ED.  GEERS' 
EXPERIENCE   WITH    THE 
TROTTERS  AND   PACERS. 


'7rifs.  —s 


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Webster  FamHy  Library  of  Veterinary  Mecfidoe 

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'JjyU 


ED.  GEERS'  EXPERIENCE  WITH  THE 
TROTTERS  AND  PACERS. 


EMBRACING 

A  BRIEF    HISTORY    OF    HIS   EARLY  LIFE   IN  TENNESSEE, 

WITH  DESCRIPTIONS   OF  SOME  OF  THE  CUSTOMS 

PECULIAR     TO     THAT    STATE,    AND    A 

GENERAL    DESCRIPTION 


MOST  NOTED  HORSES  HE   HAS  DRIVEN, 


TOGETHER   WITH 


A  LIST  OF  THE  HORSES  HE  HAS  GIVEN  FAST  RECORDS 


ALSO     INSTRUCTIONS     ABOUT 


Conditioning  and  Caring  for  the  Horse 


BEFORE    AND    DURING    RACING. 


BUFFALO,   N.  Y, 
1901. 


Copyright,  1901,  by 
E.  F.  GEERS. 


THE  M*TTHEW»-NORTHBUPCO., 
OOMPLETE  ART-PRINTINe  WORKS,  aUFFALO, 

2ooro 


TO 

MR.  C.  J.  HAMLIN, 

ONE    OF    THE    PIONEERS     IN    THE    BREEDING    AND    DEVELOPMENT    OF 

THE    LIGHT-HARNESS    HORSE, 

AND 

TO      WHOSE      LIBERALITY,      INTELLIGENT     INDUSTRY     AND 

UNSWERVING    FIDELITY  THE    RACE-GOING    PUBLIC 

IS    SO    DEEPLY    INDEBTED, 

THIS  BOOK  IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 

BY    THE    AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 

FOR  several  years  past  friends  and  horsemen  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  have  importuned 
me  to  give  in  published  form  my  experience  in  train- 
ing and  driving  light-harness  horses,  and  as  no  work 
of  this  character  has  appeared  in  this  country  for  a 
number  of  years,  it  occurred  to  me  that  if  I  was  ever 
to  do  so  the  present  is  a  very  proper  time  to  com- 
ply with  this  request,  therefore  I  have  rather  reluc- 
tantly decided  to  publish  this  volume.  I  am  indebted 
to  Mr.  P.  M.  Babcock,  an  old  friend  of  mine,  now  re- 
siding in  Buffalo,  for  whatever  merit  the  editorial 
work  of  this  book  may  possess,  as  the  main  part  of  it 
has  been  written  by  him,  aided  by  such  suggestions  as 
I  have  been  able  to  give.  I  have  never  kept  a  diary 
or  other  memoranda  and  hence  the  dates  herein  given 
are  mainly  from  recollection,  and,  while  some  of  them 
may  be  wrong,  I  believe  them  to  be  substantially  cor- 
rect. With  the  expectation  of  a  generous  criticism  of 
its  merits  and  defects  this  book  is  submitted  to  the 
consideration  of  all  who  care  to  peruse  its  pages. 

E.  F.  GEERS. 

Buffalo,  March  i,  1901. 


INTRODUCTORY, 


'"T^ RAINING  horses  for  races,  and  the  development 
j^  of  speed,  are  arts  almost  as  old  as  history  itself, 
and,  while  different  people  at  different  epochs 
in  the  past  have  employed  different  methods  for 
accomplishing  the  common  object,  the  reader,  in  order 
to  form  a  correct  judgment  as  to  the  success  and 
merits  of  one  who  has  devoted  the  best  years  of  his 
life  to  the  accomplishment  of  developing  the  light- 
harness  horse  to  his  present  high  standard  of  excel- 
lence, must  necessarily  understand  and  appreciate  the 
conditions  surrounding  his  undertaking,  and  hence  a 
brief  summary  of  the  conditions  which  existed  in 
Tennessee  at  and  prior  to  the  time  of  my  entering  the 
arena  would  seem  to  be  desirable. 

When  Tennessee  was  settled,  the  lands  were  taken 
up  by  comparatively  few  people.  These  few  land 
owners  were  a  sport-loving  people,  and,  to  gratify  their 
pleasure,  imported  large  numbers  of  thoroughbred 
horses,  some  of  which  were  among  the  best  and  most 
distinguished  race  horses  of  their  day.  There  were 
very  few  regular  racetracks  in  that  State  in  those  days ; 
but  these  large  land  owners  nearly  all  had  private 
tracks,  or  "  rings,"  upon  their  vast  estates,  where  the 
neighbors  of  a  community  would  occasionally  meet  in 
friendly  contests.  It  was  soon  demonstrated  that, 
owing  to  the  hilly  country  and  stony  and  muddy 
roads,  locomotion  could  best  be  accompHshed  by 
the  use  of  the  saddle  horse,  and    hence    it  was  that 


certain  gentlemen  imported  from  Kentucky  a  number 
of  highly-bred  pacing  and  saddle  animals,  and  these 
being  crossed  with  the  thoroughbreds  gave  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  State  the  foundation  stock  of  the  great 
families  of  pacers  which  have  made  the  name  of 
Tennessee  a  household  word  wherever  the  pacing  and 
saddle  horse  is  known  and  appreciated.  This  was  the 
condition  of  affairs  when  the  clouds  of  civil  war  rolled 
over  this  fair  State  and  darkened  nearly  every  home 
within  its  borders.  When  the  war  was  over,  it  was 
found  that  most  of  the  valuable  and  highly-bred  horses 
of  the  State  had  disappeared,  and  what  remained  were 
the  common-purpose  horses  used  to  carry  on  the 
business  of  a  pretty  well  discouraged  and  nearly 
bankrupt  people,  and  it  may  readily  be  imagined  that 
in  this  state  of  affairs  the  minds  of  the  people  were 
upon  something  more  substantial  than  racing  horses. 
So  little  attention  had  been  given  to  the  training  and 
development  of  harness  horses  for  racing  purposes 
that  when  I  commenced  my  career  as  a  trainer  and 
driver,  in  1872,  there  was  but  one  old  dilapidated  mile 
track  in  the  State,  and  not  a  single  horse  bred  or  de- 
veloped in  the  State  had  acquired  a  record  below  2.30. 
Another  element  that  contributed  to  this  result  was 
the  fact  that  the  only  harness  horses  in  the  State 
during  this  period  possessing  sufficient  speed  to  engage 
in  turf  contests  were  the  pacers ;  but  at  that  time  the 
pacer  was  not  recognized  as  being  entitled  to  demon- 
strate his  merits  upon  the  race  tracks  of  the  country, 
and  hence  pacing  speed  was  of  no  value,  and  the 
horse  that  could  pace  a  mile  in  2.10  was  worth  no 
more  in  the  market  than  one  that  could  not  pace  a 
mile  in  three  minutes,  the  only  element  of  value  being 
his  ability  and  value  as  a  saddle  horse.     But  when,  in 


18/9)  that  great  quartette,  consisting  of  Blind  Tom, 
Mattie  Hunter,  Rowdy  Boy,  and  Lucy,  electrified  the 
race-going  public  by  their  brilliant  achievements  upon 
the  race  tracks  of  the  North,  the  broad  minded  and 
generous  hearted  Colonel  Edwards  of  Cleveland,  then 
the  controlling  spirit  of  that  celebrated  track,  pro- 
claimed that,  at  least  upon  that  track,  the  pacer  should 
no  longer  be  considered  as  an  outlaw,  and  from  that 
period  dates  the  value  of  the  pacing  horse  in  racing 
contests  upon  the  different  American  race  tracks. 

The  first  attempt  to  breed  and  develop  trotting  race 
horses  in  Tennessee,  within  my  knowledge,  was  about 
the  year  1868,  when  Rev.  Talbert  Fanning  of  Frank- 
lin College,  Tennessee,  brought  some  Morgans  from 
Vermont.  These  horses  were  very  beautiful  in  form, 
and,  like  nearly  all  of  that  family,  were  great  road 
horses,  possessing  great  endurance  and  plenty  of  speed 
for  that  purpose,  but  not  sufficently  fast  for  first-class 
track  horses,  and  hence  their  breeding  and  training  did 
not  accomplish  much  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  State  as  the  home  of  the  trotting  race 
horse.  Soon  after  this.  Colonel  John  Overton  of 
Nashville  purchased  and  brought  to  the  State  the 
trotting-bred  stallion  Chieftain,  who,  although  a  well- 
bred  horse,  was  not  a  great  success  upon  the  turf,  nor 
as  the  sire  of  speed  ;  but  some  of  his  daughters  proved 
to  be  good  brood  mares,  and  the  blood  of  this  horse  is 
found  in  the  pedigree  of  a  number  of  good  turf  per- 
formers. Following  the  advent  of  Chieftain,  Major 
Campbell  Brown  of  Spring  Hill  purchased  the  horse 
Trouble,  by  Almont  33,  and  this  horse  also  proved  a 
disappointment  to  the  breeding  interests  of  the  State. 
Blackwood,  Jr.,  was  next  brought  to  the  State  by  Mr. 
Zell  of  Nashville,  and,  while  a  good  race  horse  for  his 

II 


day,  he  failed  to  impress  his  speed  and  race-horse 
qualities  upon  his  get,  and  none,  that  I  am  aware  of, 
ever  became  distinguished  upon  the  turf.  Of  the 
other  great  horses  that  have  since  been  owned  and 
bred  in  the  State  it  is  not  my  purpose  at  this  time  to 
speak,  but  this  summary  should,  I  think,  be  sufficient 
to  show  that,  as  regards  material  upon  which  to  work 
and  facilties  with  which  to  accomplish  results  at  the 
beginning  of  my  career,  I  at  least  enjoyed  no  advan- 
tages not  possessed  by  other  drivers  and  trainers  in 
other  and  more  favored  sections  of  the  country. 


12 


iZ     C 
o     ^ 


X     rt 


^    o 


CHAPTER     I. 

BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  MY  EARLY  LIFE  —  EXPERIENCE 
DRIVING  CALVES  —  SAW  MY  FIRST  TROTTING 
RACE  — MY  FIRST  TROTTING  HORSE  — CONSTRUC- 
TION OF  MY  FIRST  RACE  TRACK  — OBJECTIONS  OF 
MY  PARENTS  TO  MY  BECOMING  A  TRAINER  AND 
DRIVER. 

I  WAS   born    on    a    farm    about    three    miles    from 
Lebanon,  Wilson  County,  Tennessee,  January  25, 
185 1.     My  father  was  a  farmer  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances, and   during  my  boyhood,  in  addition  to 
this,  he  also  carried  on  a  small  country  store  at  the 
place. 

My  ambition  to  drive  something  —  such  as  horses 
mules,  oxen  and  colts  —  is  associated  with  my  earliest 
recollection,  and  when  I  was  a  small  boy  my  father 
unwittingly  placed  in  my  hands  the  power  to  com- 
mence the  gratification  of  this  desire,  by  giving  me  a 
pair  of  calves  which  were  the  pride  of  my  life,  and 
for  the  time  being  satisfied  all  my  desires.  Soon  after 
they  became  mine  I  commenced  their  education  and 
training.  I  first  put  a  rope  on  the  horns  of  each  and 
drove  them  around,  one  at  a  time,  for  a  few  days  ;  then 
I  thought  them  well  enough  broken  to  drive  together. 
Then  I  yoked  them  up,  and,  to  make  certain  that  they 
would  not  get  away,  I  tied  their  tails  together  hard 
and  fast,  and  started  to  drive  them  down  through  the 
grove.  They  made  a  plunge  or  two,  when  one  released 
his  head  from  the  bow  and  became  unyoked,  and  in 

13 


this  condition  they  started  to  run.  They  raced  side 
by  side  for  a  short  distance  until  they  came  to  a  tree, 
then  there  was  trouble,  and  I  must  confess  that  my 
inherited  love  for  educating  and  training  animals  to 
drive  received  a  severe  shock,  which  came  near 
dampening  all  the  ardor  which  I  possessed,  as  one  calf 
passed  to  the  right  and  the  other  to  the  left  of  that 
tree,  and  it  did  not  require  the  wisdom  of  a  philoso- 
pher to  see  that  either  the  tree  or  the  tails  must  give 
way,  and  it  did  not  take  long  to  determine  the  winner, 
as  the  smaller  calf  emerged  from  the  contest  minus 
about  two  feet  of  his  tail,  and  bleeding  as  though  his 
life  would  ebb  away  right  then  and  there;  and  when 
I  contemplated  the  awful  consequences  that  would 
surely  come  should  this  result  be  the  crowning  effort 
of  my  first  attempt  in  starting  up  the  pathway  I 
hoped  some  day  to  follow,  my  blood  was  nearly  frozen 
with  fear ;  but  the  calf  finally  recovered  and  they  grew 
to  be  a  fine  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  spent  many  happy 
hours  driving  them.  After  they  had  grown  up  I 
traded  them  to  my  father  for  a  two-year-old  colt, 
worth  about  $50.  I  took  extra  care  of  him  and  soon 
had  him  thoroughly  broken  and  looking  well. 

One  of  the  first  pleasures  in  which  the  farmers  and 
people  in  the  country  districts  of  Tennessee  indulged 
after  the  war  was  in  holding  local  or  county  fairs,  and 
for  many  years  thereafter  this  custom  was,  and  to 
some  extent  still  is,  observed  in  most  of  the  counties 
in  the  middle  and  western  part  of  the  State ;  and 
while  the  facilities  for  exhibiting  stock,  etc.,  and  for 
giving  races  at  these  fairs  were,  and  are,  inferior  to 
those  in  some  of  the  other  parts  of  the  country,  yet 
they  have  undoubtedly  been  of  material  benefit  in 
helping  to  raise  the  standard  of  all  live-stock  interests. 

14 


About  the  time  I  became  possessed  of  this  colt  I 
attended  our  county  fair  and  for  the  first  time  in  my 
life  witnessed  a  trotting  race,  which  so  filled  me  with 
enthusiasm  that  I  resolved  in  the  not  distant  future  to 
own  a  trotter ;  and  as  my  colt  had  no  speed  at  the  trot- 
ting gait  I  resolved  to  trade  him  for  one  that  did.  I 
knew  of  a  farmer  in  the  neighborhood  who  had  a  nice 
little  bay  mare  that  could  trot  quite  fast  under  the 
saddle,  but  had  never  been  broken  to  harness,  and  I 
concluded  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  me  to  trade 
my  colt  for  her  and  see  what  I  could  make  out  of  her. 
I  approached  the  farmer  upon  the  subject,  and  he 
wanted  my  colt  and  $20  for  the  mare.  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  trade  if  I  could  raise  the  $20,  which  I  did  not 
have.  I  submitted  the  proposition  to  my  father  and 
appealed  to  him  for  the  money,  which  he  gave  me, 
and  that  day  I  traded  for  her,  and  she  was  the  first 
trotter  I  ever  attempted  to  handle  for  speed.  I  was 
then  about  seventeen  years  old.  The  first  thing  I  did 
was  to  break  her  to  harness,  which  was  not  difficult, 
as  she  was  a  good-tempered  animal.  We  had  a  light 
open  buggy  on  the  place  and  it  was  only  a  few  days 
before  I  was  driving  her  quietly  to  it ;  and  as  her 
breaking  progressed,  my  love  to  ride  fast  began  to  as- 
sert itself,  and  I  would  urge  her  to  step  along  every 
time  I  came  to  a  smooth  piece  of  road.  She  soon 
learned  to  speed  in  harness,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
she  could  outbrush  any  of  the  horses  encountered  upon 
the  road.  I  was  very  proud  of  her  and  took  the  best 
care  of  her  I  knew  how.  She  was  very  handsome  and 
much  admired,  and  I  sold  her  for  $225.  After  her 
sale  I  was  anxious  to  get  another  and  faster  one.  I 
knew  of  a  plain-looking  horse  in  the  neighborhood, 
owned  by  a  butcher,  and  used  upon  the  butcher's  cart, 


that  showed  some  speed  at  the  trot.  I  bought  him 
for  $125,  and  at  this  time  I  also  bought  an  old  high- 
wheel  sulky  with  springs,  weighing  about  no  pounds, 
for  which  I  paid  $15,  and  with  this  outfit  I  deemed 
myself  fully  equipped  to  commence  preparations  for 
winning  some  harness  races.  But  there  was  no  race 
track  in  that  section,  and  a  race  track  I  must  have 
upon  which  to  educate  my  promising  campaigner ; 
and,  having  heard  that  necessity  was  the  mother  of 
invention,  I  proceeded  as  best  I  could  to  construct  a 
track,  but  as  I  never  had  seen  a  regulation  track  and 
knew  nothing  of  the  procedure  necessary  to  employ  in 
its  construction,  the  affair  that  resulted  from  my 
efforts  was  not  such  a  one  as  Seth  Griffin  would  ap- 
prove. I  selected  the  top  of  a  hill  as  a  site,  then  tak- 
ing as  long  a  rope  as  I  could  find  I  staked  one  end  to 
the  ground  and  at  the  other  end  of  it  drove  a  stake, 
then  swung  around  in  a  circle,  sticking  stakes  at  dif- 
ferent places.  Then  I  plowed  up  a  space  wide  enough 
for  me  to  drive,  and  when  completed  the  track  was 
about  one-third  of  a  mile  long,  and  so  irregular  and 
crude  that  a  horse  would  be  justified  in  going  any 
kind  of  a  gait  to  get  over  it,  and  I  have  often 
thought  I  was  exceedingly  lucky  in  being  able  to 
remain  in  the  sulky  while  driving  over  its  rough  and 
irregular  surface.  I  was  then  attending  school  and 
the  only  time  I  could  get  to  devote  to  the  construc- 
tion of  the  track  was  out  of  school  hours  and  on 
Saturdays.  At  this  time  I  was  beset  with  troubles 
and  difficulties  that  for  a  time  threatened  to  crush 
my  ambition,  as  my  parents  were  greatly  opposed 
to  my  devoting  my  life  to  training  horses,  and 
my  father  greatly  desired  my  assistance  in  the  store 
and  wished  me  to  pursue  a  mercantile  life  ;  and  it  was 

16 


only  after  many  spirited  family  consultations  and  my 
persistent  declarations  to  become  a  driver  of  fast 
horses  that  the  attempt  to  make  a  merchant  out  of  me 
was  reluctantly  abandoned  by  my  parents,  and  I  was 
allowed  to  proceed  with  the  education  of  my  prospec- 
tive race  horse.  But  here  I  encountered  difficulties 
which  I  had  not  anticipated ;  the  horse  was  rather 
long  gaited,  and  by  reason  of  my  track  being  so  short 
and  the  turns  so  sharp,  he  could  not  extend  himself, 
and  I  was  obliged  to  take  him  on  the  road  every  time 
I  wanted  him  to  step  fast,  and  for  this  reason  his  edu- 
cation did  not  progress  very  rapidly,  but  I  finally  got 
him  in  condition  so  that  he  could  trot  a  mile  in  about 
2.50,  which  was  considered  very  good  for  a  green  horse 
in  those  days,  and  I  sold  him  for  $400.  After  doing 
so  well  with  this  horse  and  selling  him  for  so  good  a 
price,  the  farmers  in  the  neighborhood  seemed  to 
think  I  could  make  a  race  horse  out  of  most  anything, 
and  could  sell  any  old  plug  for  three  or  four  hundred 
dollars;  and  as  at  that  time  there  were  only  two  or 
three  men  in  Tennessee  who  pretended  to  condition 
and  handle  horses  for  speed,  I  soon  had  several  horses 
sent  me  to  break  and  handle,  and  I  did  very  well  with 
some  of  them  and  sold  them  for  their  owners  for 
good  prices. 


17 


CHAPTER     II. 

MY  FIRST  RACE  WITH  LITTLE  DAVE  —  REV.  MR. 
FANNING— GEORGE  FULLER  — MY  FIRST  TRIP 
THROUGH   THE   GRAND   CIRCUIT. 

THE  success  which  attended  my  efforts  in  break- 
ing and  training  these  few  horses  was  known  to 
Reverend  Talbert  Fanning,  of  whom  I  have 
spoken,  and  in  the  summer  of  1871  or  1872  he  wrote 
me  to  come  and  see  him.  I  did  so,  and  made  an 
arrangement  with  him  to  go  to  his  place  and  handle 
his  recently  imported  Morgan  horses  for  one  year. 
One  of  these  horses  was  a  small  chestnut  stallion, 
about  14^  hands  high,  called  ''  Little  Dave."  He 
was  a  pure-gaited  trotter,  and  we  thought  he  could 
trot  quite  fast  for  so  small  a  horse,  Mr.  Fanning 
also  had  a  pair  of  gray  geldings  that  were  of  fair 
size,  quite  stylish,  and  matched  well.  They,  also, 
had  quite  a  fair  amount  of  speed.  That  fall  there 
were  several  county  fairs  in  Wilson  and  adjoining 
counties,  and  I  expressed  to  Mr.  Fanning  a  desire  to 
take  Little  Dave  and  the  gray  team  to  the  fairs  and 
enter  them  in  the  show  classes.  He  readily  gave  his 
consent  and  I  took  them  to  Lebanon.  I  entered  the 
pair  as  a  double  team,  also  entered  one  of  the  geldings 
as  a  single  driver,  and  also  entered  Little  Dave  in  the 
stallion  class,  and  took  a  premium  with  each  entry. 
On  the  last  day  of  the  fair  there  was  a  trotting  race  in 
which  I  started  Little  Dave  hitched  to  a  skeleton 
wagon    and   won    the    race,    best    time    3.04,    and    I 

i8 


thought  both  the  horse  and  myself  were  flying.  That 
was  the  first  race  in  which  I  had  ever  driven,  and  not- 
withstanding that  I  have  since  participated  in  many 
of  the  fastest  and  most  sensational  races  ever  trotted 
and  paced  in  America,  the  pride  I  experienced  in  win- 
ning that  race  yet  lingers  in  my  memory  as  among  my 
greatest  triumphs.  From  Lebanon  I  went  to  Mur- 
freesboro,  and  won  at  that  place  about  the  same  as  I 
had  done  at  Lebanon,  and  returned  home  as  happy  and 
proud  as  I  imagine  a  general  would  be  after  having 
won  a  series  of  battles.  But  I  was  perplexed  to  know 
what  to  do  about  telling  Mr.  Fanning  of  having  raced 
Little  Dave,  when  I  reported  the  result  of  my  trip  to 
him.  While  I  knew  him  to  be  a  man  fond  of  horses 
and  one  that  was  as  fond  as  any  one  of  riding  fast  on 
the  road,  yet  the  thought  that  he  was  a  minister 
made  me  feel  that  he  might  be  offended  because, 
without  his  knowledge  or  consent,  I  had  entered  and 
raced  one  of  his  horses,  as  I  knew  as  a  general 
thing  that  ministers  did  not  indulge  in  horse  racing; 
but  when  I  frankly  told  him  all  I  had  done  he  smiled 
and,  although  he  said  nothing,  I  could  see  by  his  looks 
and  actions  that  he  was  as  proud  and  happy  over  the 
success  I  had  met  with  as  I  was.  He  died  that  fall  or 
early  winter,  and,  as  his  family  did  not  care  to  continue 
the  training  of  the  horses,  I  returned  to  my  home  more 
determined  than  ever  to  succeed  in  the  vocation  I  had 
chosen.  I  did  not  long  remain  idle,  as  some  parties 
near  there  soon  sent  me  three  or  four  horses  to  handle, 
which  I  trained  to  the  satisfaction  of  their  owners,  and 
this  kept  me  busy  for  some  time. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  nearly  all 
the  horses  in  that  vicinity  which  showed  any  speed 
were  natural  pacers,  and,  as  there  were  scarcely  any 

19 


sulkies,  these  horses  were  speeded  at  fairs  and  other 
horse  shows  under  the  saddle ;  and,  as  the  pacing  gait 
was  of  no  value,  in  order  to  realize  anything  out  of 
their  development  for  speed  the  horses  must  be  con- 
verted from  pacers  to  trotters,  and  to  accomplish  this 
with  the  crude  facilities  then  at  hand  and  the  limited 
knowledge  I  had  upon  the  subject  many  incidents  that 
now  seem  amusing  occurred.  I  knew  of  a  horse  that 
could  pace  fast  under  the  saddle  and  I  believed  I  could 
break  him  to  harness  and  convert  him  to  the  trotting 
gait,  and  so  I  bought  him  for  $200,  which  was  a  large 
price  for  a  green,  unbroken  horse.  I  soon  broke  him 
to  harness  and  commenced  my  experiment  in  teaching 
him  to  trot.  I  understood  that  to  make  a  natural 
pacer  trot  he  must  carry  an  unnatural  weight  on  his 
front  feet,  so  I  went  to  work  contriving  how  to  accom- 
plish this  result.  I  had  him  shod  in  front  with  shoes 
weighing  one  and  a  half  pounds  each,  then  I  had  a 
pair  of  leather  sacks  made  that  would  each  hold  a 
pound  of  shot,  then  filled  these  sacks  with  shot,  soaked 
them  thoroughly  in  water,  then  buckled  them  around 
the  front  feet,  thus  compelling  him  to  carry  an  extra 
weight  of  two  and  a  half  pounds  on  each  front  foot. 
With  this  weight  he  would  square  away  and  trot  all 
right  on  the  road,  but  when  I  tried  him  on  the  track 
it  was  so  short  that  he  would  not,  or  could  not,  handle 
himself,  and  would  get  tangled  up,  and  I  was  compelled 
to  work  him  almost  entirely  on  the  road.  He  de- 
veloped speed  very  rapidly  and  within  sixty  days 
from  the  time  I  bought  him  I  took  him  to  Nashville 
and  started  him  in  a  trotting  race  against  four  or  five 
other  horses,  and,  notwithstanding  his  handicap  by 
reason  of  this  heavy  weight,  he  trotted  a  good  race, 
winning   second  money,  and  undoubtedly  had  speed 


enough  to  have  won  the  race  easily  if  he  had  not  been 
thus  handicapped.  The  best  time,  I  think,  in  this  race 
was  about  2.40.  The  day  of  that  race  I  refused  $1,000 
for  him,  as  I  thought  I  had  a  world-beater.  But  I 
gained  some  costly  experience  by  this  refusal,  as  after 
keeping  him  and  training  him  a  year  or  two  longer 
I  sold  him  for  S300.  His  keeping  and  handling  cost 
me  all  the  money  I  had  made  on  the  other  horses. 
This  experience  made  me  think  I  did  not  know  as 
much  about  conditioning  and  handling  racehorses  as  I 
supposed  I  did  a  few  months  previous  ;  but  this  sad 
experience  was  not  without  its  compensations,  as  it 
taught  me  that  it  seldom  pays  to  try  and  make  a 
fast  trotter  out  of  a  natural  pacer,  as  the  weight  re- 
quired to  make  them  trot  is  so  great  as  to  create  too 
much  of  a  handicap  to  enable  them  to  compete  with 
natural  trotters.  I  am  aware  that  there  are  exceptions 
to  this  rule ;  the  most  prominent,  perhaps,  is  that  of 
Old  Smuggler,  a  natural  pacer  who  carried  about  two 
pounds  of  weight  on  each  fore  foot  during  his  trotting 
races,  and  although  he  and  some  other  natural  pacers 
have  made  successful  trotting  race  horses,  yet  my  ex- 
perience and  observation  is  that  as  a  rule  the  horse 
will  do  much  better  if  allowed  to  go  his  natural  gait. 
About  the  time  I  sold  this  horse,  Mr.  George  Fuller, 
now  in  the  employ  of  the  Russian  Government  as 
chief  trainer  of  its  trotting  horses,  opened  a  training 
stable  at  Nashville,  and  among  the  horses  he  was 
handling,  was  a  mare  called  Tennessee,  which  he  was 
preparing  for  the  Northern  circuit.  She  was  a  fast 
trotter.  I  arranged  with  him  to  go  along  and  take 
care  of  her.  This  was  my  first  experience  in  taking 
lessons  of  a  competent  man  in  preparing  horses  for  a 
campaign.     I   regard   Mr.  Fuller  as    one  of  the  very 


best  men  to  condition,  train  and  drive  horses  I  have 
ever  known.  I  went  through  the  grand  circuit  with 
him,  and  the  lessons  I  received  under  his  instruction 
have  been  of  great  benefit  to  me  in  my  career  since 
that  time.  This  experience  gave  me  more  confidence 
in  myself,  and  the  next  season  (1875)  I  opened  a  pub- 
lic training  stable  at  Nashville,  where  I  handled  a 
number  of  horses  and  had  several  that  could  beat 
2.40,  and,  as  fast  records  were  not  as  numerous  in 
those  days  as  they  have  since  become,  I  thought  I  did 
pretty  well.  While  training  my  stable  that  season  I 
met  Major  Campbell  Brown  of  Spring  Hill,  Tennes- 
see. He  was  the  grandest  and  best-informed  man  in 
everything  that  pertained  to  the  breeding  of  fast  har- 
ness horses  I  have  ever  known  ;  and  I  deem  it  but 
just  to  say  that  no  man  in  the  State  of  Tennessee  has 
done  more  than  he  did  in  raising  the  standard  of  the 
light-harness  horse  in  that  State  to  the  position  which 
it  has  since  occupied.  At  that  time  I  made  an  ar- 
rangement with  him  to  handle  his  horses  that  fall. 
Among  those  he  then  owned  was  a  black  mare  called 
Alice  West,  by  Almont  33.  She  was  very  handsome 
and  stylish  and  I  soon  found  that  she  had  a  great  deal 
of  speed.  I  took  her  to  the  fair  at  Columbia,  with 
several  others,  that  fall,  and  took  eleven  premiums  out 
of  twelve  entries  ;  soon  after  this  I  took  two  or  three 
show  horses  and  two  trotters  and  went  to  the  fairs  in 
Georgia  and  Alabama.  One  of  the  trotters  was  a 
horse  called  East  Lynn, who  could  trot  in  about  2.40,  and 
I  sold  him  at  the  first  place  I  went.  The  other  was  a 
mare  called  Diana.  I  started  her  in  the  green  classes 
and  wound  up  in  the  free  for  all.  I  gave  her  a  record 
of  2.33,  and  she  never  lost  a  race  on  the  trip.  I  returned 
to  Major  Brown  feeling  that  I  had  been  quite  successful. 

22 


CHAPTER     III. 

ALICE  WEST  — LIZZIE  THE  SECOND  — JOE  BRADEN  — A 
QUEER  ACCIDENT  — AN  UNFAIR  RACE  DECISION  — 
THE  ONLY  TIME  I  WAS  EVER  TAKEN  OUT  OF  A 
SULKY  AND  THE  RESULT. 

I  LEASED  and  took  possession  of  the  old  fair 
ground  about  two  miles  west  of  Columbia,  Tenn., 
in  the  spring  of  1876,  and  used  the  old  track  for 
jogging  and  working  the  horses  I  had  in  training  from 
that  time  until  the  spring  of  1889,  when  I  was  again 
employed  by  Major  Brown  to  train  a  large  stable 
he  had  at  the  Ewell  Farm  at  Spring  Hill,  and 
remained  there  until  I  went  to  Village  Farm  in  the 
early  spring  of  1892;  and  while  at  Major  Brown's  I 
also  trained  at  his  track  the  horses  I  had  been 
working  at  my  stable,  and  also  took  some  additional 
horses  to  handle.  Commencing  with  the  season  of 
1877,  I  went  North  with  what  horses  I  considered 
good  enough  and  raced  over  the  different  tracks 
of  the  North,  generally  commencing  in  July  and 
ending  in  September,  leaving  a  good  man  at  home 
to  work  the  horses  I  did  not  take  with  me ;  and 
when  my  Northern  circuit  was  over  I  went  South 
through  the  States  of  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Georgia 
and  Mississippi,  and  sometimes  extended  my  excur- 
sions as  far  South  as  Florida  and  Texas,  and  wound 
up  the  season  late  in  December,  when  I  would  return 
to  my  home  near  Columbia  and  turn  the  horses  out  for 
a  while.     I  continued  this  custom,  from  1877,  as  long 

23 


as  I  continued  to  reside  in  Tennessee.  Early  in  the 
season  of  1877,  Major  Brown  placed  in  my  hands  the 
mare  Alice  West,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  to  condition 
and  prepare  for  the  season's  campaign.  She  was  then 
four  years  old,  very  speedy,  and  a  game  race  mare. 
I  think  I  left  Tennessee  with  her  that  season  in  July 
and  started  her  in  a  number  of  races  through  the 
North,  and  at  New  York  I  gave  her  a  record  of  2.26. 
She  was  the  first  trotter  I  ever  marked  below  2.30, 
and  this  was  my  first  experience  in  conducting  a 
campaign  for  myself  in  the  North.  I  won  several 
good  races  with  her,  and  returned  to  Tennessee  and 
took  some  other  horses  in  my  stable,  which  had  been 
worked  some  during  my  absence,  and  started  for  the 
fairs  about  to  be  held  in  Alabama  and  Georgia. 
While  at  Montgomery  on  this  trip  a  very  peculiar 
accident  occurred,  which  might  have  resulted  seriously, 
but  which  fortunately  did  not,  and  only  added  excite- 
ment to  the  race.  A  Mr.  Beebe,  the  driver  and  part 
owner  of  a  horse  called  Fred  Tyler,  entered  his  horse 
in  a  race  one  day,  and  in  the  first  heat  of  the  race  his 
horse  acted  badly,  and  came  very  near  being  shut  out. 
I  had  an  entry  in  another  race  which  was  being  sand- 
wiched in  with  his  race.  As  I  was  about  leaving  the 
track  after  a  heat  in  my  race,  I  met  Mr.  Beebe  with 
Fred  Tyler  coming  onto  the  track  ready  to  start  in  the 
second  heat,  and  he  requested  me  to  drive  his  horse 
the  rest  of  his  race,  which  I  consented  to  do.  I  sent 
my  horse  to  the  stable  and  when  about  to  get  up 
behind  Fred  Tyler  I  noticed  that  the  sulky  looked 
weak  and  unsafe.  I  took  hold  of  one  of  the  wheels 
and  it  seemed  loose  and  anything  but  solid.  I  told 
Mr.  Beebe  I  did  not  like  the  looks  of  his  sulky,  and 
did  not  think  it  was  safe.     He  said  it  was  all  right, 

24 


that  he  was  a  much  heavier  man  than  I  was,  that  he 
had  driven  a  number  of  races  with  it,  and  if  it  would 
hold  him  it  certainly  would  hold  me,  and  with  this 
assurance  I  reluctantly  mounted  the  sulky  and  the 
race  soon  commenced.  It  was  a  half-mile  track,  and 
there  were  several  horses  in  the  race,  but  it  soon 
became  apparent  that  the  contest  would  be  betvveen 
Fred  Tyler  and  another  horse,  who  had  full  as 
much  speed  as  he  had.  When  we  reached  the  head 
of  the  stretch  in  the  last  half  of  the  mile,  Fred  Tyler 
and  the  other  contending  horse  were  about  on  equal 
terms,  and  when  I  called  on  my  horse  for  an  extra 
spurt,  he  left  his  feet,  and  to  get  him  back  to  his  gait 
I  pulled  first  sharply  on  the  right  rein,  and  then  on 
the  left.  With  the  second  pull  he  settled  into  a 
square  trot,  but  the  effort  in  pulling  so  hard  on  the  left 
rein  threw  my  weight  on  the  outside  wheel  of  the 
sulky,  and  it  instantly  collapsed,  the  spokes  leaving 
the  hub  and  the  hub  striking  the  ground,  but,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  this  mishap  did  not  cause  the  horse  to 
break  and  did  not  unseat  me.  This  accident  occurred 
about  150  yards  from  the  wire,  and  I  drove  to  the 
wire  with  one  hub  dragging  on  the  ground,  and  Fred 
Tyler,  under  the  persuasion  of  the  whip,  won  the  heat, 
amid  the  plaudits  of  as  excited  an  audience  as  was 
ever  seen  upon  a  race  track.  I  stopped  a  few  feet 
beyond  the  wire,  and  some  gentleman  in  the  audience 
ran  up  to  the  sulky  and  took  hold  of  the  hub  and 
raised  it  up,  and  carried  it  in  his  hand  while  I  drove 
back  to  the  judges'  stand.  Another  sulky  was  then 
procured  and  I  went  on  and  won  the  race.  While  no 
harm  resulted  to  anything  but  the  old  sulky,  I  confess 
I  have  never  cared  to  repeat  this  experience.  There 
are  hundreds  of  people  still  living  in  Montgomery  who 

25 


witnessed  this  thrilling  episode,  and  I  never  go  to  that 
city  that  I  do  not  meet  some  one  who  speaks  of  it. 

When  I  started  upon  my  career  as  a  trainer  and 
driver,  I  was  impressed  with  the  idea  that  integrity, 
courtesy,  and  gentlemanly  conduct  should  be  carried 
into  the  training  stable  and  upon  the  race  track  to 
the  same  extent  that  obtains  in  the  court  room,  the 
bank  and  the  store;  and  I  have  ever  endeavored  to 
observe  this  rule  of  conduct  in  the  part  I  have  taken 
in  training  and  driving  horses  during  the  past  quarter 
of  a  century.  But  while  upon  one  of  these  Southern 
campaigns — and  I  think  it  was  in  the  fall  of  1877  — 
it  was  my  fortune  to  come  in  contact  with  one  who 
did  not  seem  to  entertain  the  same  ideas  upon  this 
subject  that  I  did.  One  of  the  horses  I  then  had  in 
my  stable  was  a  mare  called  Lizzie  the  Second.  She 
was  a  strong,  level-headed,  good-gaited  mare,  and 
speedy  enough  for  anything  in  her  class  at  these  races. 
At  Americus,  Ga.,  I  started  her  in  a  race  in  which 
was  a  Mr.  Bradley  driving  a  horse  whose  name  I  do 
not  remember.  It  was  a  half-mile  track,  and  my  posi- 
tion in  the  race  was  next  outside  of  Mr.  Bradley.  My 
mare  and  the  horse  Mr,  Bradley  was  driving  were  the 
chief  contending  horses  in  the  race.  We  raced  along 
close  together  and  when  the  back  stretch  was  reached 
on  the  second  half  mile,  my  mare  was  up  to  his  wheel 
and,  seeing  that  I  was  likely  to  pass  him,  he  pulled  his 
horse  toward  the  outside  fence,  and  so  close  to  it  that 
there  was  not  enough  room  for  me  to  pass  between 
his  sulky  and  the  fence.  I  requested  him  to  move 
over  and  give  me  room  to  pass.  He  paid  no  attention 
to  this  request,  but,  if  anything,  pulled  his  horse  still 
nearer  my  mare.  I  called  upon  him  several  times  to 
move  over,  but  he  still  continued  to  pay  no  attention 

26 


to  my  demands,  and  I  finally  told  him  I  should  try 
and  go  through.  He  said  nothing,  but  kept  his  horse 
in  the  same  position.  My  inside  sulky  wheel  was  then 
locked  inside  of  his  outside  wheel.  I  braced  myself 
well,  and  threw  my  weight  on  the  inside  of  the  sulky 
shaft,  took  a  strong  hold  upon  the  mare,  and  clucked 
to  her  and  she  responded  to  my  urging.  When  he 
realized  the  situation  he  turned  his  horse  toward  the 
inside  of  the  track,  which  brought  the  force  of  my 
locked  wheel  nearly  against  the  side  of  his  wheel,  and 
the  spokes  of  his  wheel  commenced  to  fly  in  all  direc- 
tions. His  wheel  was  broken  in  many  pieces  and  he 
was  thrown  several  feet  in  the  air.  My  sulky  wheel 
passed  over  what  remained  of  the  wreck ;  my  mare 
never  broke  her  trot,  and  I  easily  won  the  heat.  I 
was  then  a  young  man  and  scarcely  known  to  the 
judges.  He  was  an  experienced  driver,  and  the  horse 
he  was  driving  belonged  to  a  prominent  and  influen- 
tial man,  well  known  to  the  judges.  After  the  heat 
I  went  to  the  judges  and  explained  the  exact  situa- 
tion to  them.  Mr.  Bradley  and  the  owner  of  the  horse 
he  was  driving  were  also  there.  The  judges  heard 
our  statements  and  I  think  the  owner  of  the  other 
horse  must  have  exercised  some  hypnotic  influence 
over  them,  as  they  decided  I  did  wrong ;  declared  the 
heat  off ;  sent  me  and  my  mare  to  the  stable,  and 
allowed  Bradley  to  start  again.  I  then  thought,  and 
have  always  believed,  that  under  the  racing  rules  and 
all  rules  of  fairness  I  was  in  the  right  and  clearly  en- 
titled to  the  heat.  This  is  the  only  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  my  experience  that  I  ever  intentionally  col- 
lided with  another  driver,  and  the  only  time  I  was 
ever  sent  to  the  stable  for  alleged  foul  driving.  The 
next  day  there  was  a  free-for-all  trot  in  which  were  the 

27 


horses  Hotspur,  Flora  Belle,  Alice  West  and  Tornado, 
Alice  West  being  my  entry,  and  this  same  Mr.  Brad- 
ley was  behind  Hotspur.  These  horses  all  had  records 
ranging  from  2.22  held  by  Hotspur,  to  2.26  held  by 
Alice  West.  Hotspur  drew  the  pole  and  was  a  very 
fast  scorer.  Flora  Belle  and  Tornado  were  slow  in 
scoring.  I  had  by  this  time  given  Alice  West  suffi- 
cient experience,  so  that  she  was  a  reliable  race  mare, 
and  very  handy  in  catching  after  making  a  break.  We 
commenced  scoring,  and  Mr.  Bradley  would  rush  Hot- 
spur at  the  top  of  his  speed  regardless  of  where  the 
other  horses  were,  and  would  not  attempt  to  get  a 
fair  even  start.  After  several  unsuccessful  attempts 
at  starting  I  told  the  judges  that  Mr.  Bradley  was  not 
trying  to  score  for  a  fair  start,  and  that  he  should 
come  slow  to  the  wire  and  allow  the  other  horses  that 
could  not  score  as  fast  as  Hotspur  to  get  on  even 
terms  with  him.  But  Bradley  seemed  to  think  he  was 
doing  the  proper  thing.  We  went  back  to  score  again, 
and,  as  usual,  Bradley  rushed  Hotspur  ahead  of  the 
rest  of  us,  and  not  wishing  to  be  left  entirely  in  the 
rear,  should  the  judges  send  us  off,  I  clucked  to  Alice 
West  and  she  immediately  broke  into  a  run  and  over- 
took Hotspur  just  before  the  wire  was  reached,  when 
I  settled  her  in  a  trot,  and  she  and  Hotspur  went  un- 
der the  wire  head  and  head,  and  the  judges  said  "go," 
both  Flora  Belle  and  Tornado  being  at  least  fifty 
yards  back.  Alice  West  was  at  that  time  a  new  horse 
to  the  race  followers  in  that  section,  and  every  one, 
knowing  of  the  record  and  reputation  of  old  Hotspur, 
thought  the  race  to  be  only  a  matter  of  form  and  that 
Hotspur  could  not  be  beaten,  but  I  did  not  share  in 
this  opinion.  We  raced  on  about  even  terms  until  we 
came  to  a  part  of  the  track  that  was  very  sandy,  when 

28 


old  Hotspur  began  to  tire,  and  I  easily  won  the  heat, 
and  won  the  race,  and  felt  that  I  had  been  revenged 
for  the  ill  treatment  I  had  received  the  day  before.  I 
also  won  two  or  three  other  races  at  that  meeting. 

In  1884,  I  purchased  Joe  Braden,  then  a  green  horse, 
that  showed  a  good  way  of  going  under  the  saddle,  and 
when  I  took  him  his  feet  were  in  a  very  bad  condition, 
by  reason  of  which  he  developed  speed  very  slowly ; 
but  I  believed  if  I  could  get  his  feet  in  condition  to 
stand  work  he  would  learn  to  pace  fast.     I  resorted  to 
every  device  within    my  knowledge    and   spent  many 
sleepless  hours  trying  to  invent  something  that  would 
sufficiently  protect  his  feet  to  enable  him  to  endure 
the  hardships  of  racing.     My  efforts  were  at  last  suc- 
cessful, and  he  became  a  good  horse,  and  in  his  pre- 
paratory work,  one  spring,  paced  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to 
a  high-wheeled  sulky,  over  the  old,  uneven,  fair  ground 
track   at    Columbia,    in    thirty-one   seconds.      I    cam- 
paigned him  through  the  North  in  1885  and   1886,  and 
gave  him  a  record  of   2.15^.     He  developed  into    a 
first-class  race  horse,  and  except  for  his  tender  feet, 
which  would  occasionally  cause  him  to  suffer  so  much 
pain    that    he  would    not  extend    himself   and  would 
break,  he  would  have  been  one  of  the  best  race  horses 
of   his  day.     In  the    fall   of    1886    I    took    my  stable 
South,  and  at  Gainsville,  Texas,  entered  Joe  Braden 
in    the    free-for-all    pace.     The   track   was   very  hard, 
which  caused  Braden  to  be  unsteady,  but  I  think  I 
would  have  won  the  race  had  not  Braden  left  his  feet 
in  the  second  heat,  which  caused  him  to  lose  that  heat. 
After  this  heat  the  judges  took  me  out  of  the  sulky, 
and  put  up  a  new  driver,  which  did  not  improve  mat- 
ters, as  the  horse  was  more  unsteady  than  ever,  and, 
with  the  best  efforts  the  driver  could  command,  Joe 

29 


Braden  finished  the  heat  behind  the  flag,  thus  demon- 
strating that  my  removal  from  the  sulky  was  entirely 
without  cause.  Of  course,  I  felt  mortified  at  being 
thus  removed  from  my  sulky,  and  I  am  proud  to  say 
that  in  all  my  experience  as  a  driver  this  is  the  only 
time  I  have  ever  been  taken  out  of  a  sulky  by  the 
judges  in  a  race. 


30 


CHAPTER     IV. 

MATTIE  HUNTER  — SOME  OF  HER  GREAT  RACES. 

I  FIRST  saw  Mattie  Hunter  in  the  summer  of  1875. 
She  was  then  three  years  old.  She  was  very  hand- 
some and  stylish,  a  bright  chestnut,  with  white 
strip  in  face,  white  stockings  behind,  and  one  in  front. 
I  do  not  think  she  had  then  been  broken  to  harness, 
but  could  pace  quite  fast  under  the  saddle.  Her  con- 
formation, style  and  gameness  gave  evidence  of  breed- 
ing of  a  high  character,  but  beyond  her  sire  and  dam 
nothing  can  ever  be  known.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
the  Government  had  a  large  number  of  horses  at 
Nashville,  which  had  been  gathered  in  by  the  soldiers 
from  different  places,  and  no  one  knew  from  whence 
they  came  or  anything  about  their  breeding.  These 
horses  were  sold  at  public  auction,  and  among  them 
was  a  tall,  rangy,  chestnut  colt,  then  three  years  old. 
He  was  very  poor,  and  had  every  appearance  of  having 
been  ridden  hard  and  poorly  taken  care  of.  This  colt 
was  purchased  by  Major  Alman  of  Cornersville,  Tenn., 
and  by  him  named  Prince  Pulaski.  With  rest  and 
care  he  improved  rapidly,  and  when  matured  was  one 
of  the  handsomest  and  best  show  horses  I  ever  saw ; 
and  while  his  breeding  was,  and  probably  will  forever 
remain,  unknown,  his  style,  beautiful  head  and  neck, 
perfect  legs,  and  smooth  conformation,  furnished 
indisputable  evidence  of  royal  breeding,  and  that  he 
possessed  a  large  element  of  the  best  thoroughbred 
blood  then  known  in  that  section  of  the  country.     In 

31 


iSyi,  he  was  bred  to  a  small  chestnut  mare  with  white 
markings,  of  unknown  breeding,  the  product  being  the 
filly  Mattie  Hunter,  foaled  in  1872.  I  know  that 
many  turf  writers  in  speaking  of  Mattie  Hunter  have 
said  that  her  dam  was  a  Texas  pony,  while  others 
have  said  she  was  by  Driver,  but  I  have  never  known 
or  seen  anything  to  warrant  these  statements,  and 
from  all  the  information  I  have  been  able  to  gather 
upon  the  subject  I  believe  she  was  a  small  chestnut 
saddle  mare  and  a  natural  pacer.  Early  in  1878  the 
owner  of  Mattie  Hunter  brought  her  to  me  to  train 
and  race  that  season.  I  had  never  ridden  or  driven 
her  before  then.  She  had  been  broken  to  harness,  but 
had  been  speeded  but  little  in  harness.  She  developed 
speed  very  rapidly,  and  I  soon  discovered  that  she  had 
more  speed  than  any  horse  I  had  yet  handled,  and  was 
one  of  the  purest-gaited  pacers  I  have  ever  seen.  Her 
temperament  was  of  the  best,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  she  could  show  a  2.20  gait.  In  the  fall  of  1878 
I  concluded  to  take  some  of  the  horses  I  had  in  train- 
ing to  several  fairs  in  the  Southern  States,  among 
them  being  Mattie  Hunter.  On  this  trip  I  met  Sleepy 
George  in  a  number  of  contests.  He  was  driven  by 
Mr.  Crawford,  known  as  '*  Counselor  "  Crawford,  who 
was  an  accomplished  reinsman.  At  that  time  Sleepy 
George  had  a  record,  as  I  remember,  of  about  2.15, 
and  was  considered  the  fastest  pacer  then  upon  the 
turf.  In  the  first  race  or  two  Sleepy  George,  by  reason 
of  his  being  an  experienced  campaigner,  was  able 
to  defeat  the  mare  ;  but  as  soon  as  she  had  had  a  little 
experience  she  could  outpace  him,  and  I  won  several 
good  races  from  him  with  her.  She  retired  that  fall 
with  a  record  of  2.19^.  This  does  not  seem  to  be 
very  fast  time  for  a  horse  of  her  ability ;  but  it  must 

32 


be  remembered  that  these  races  were  over  tracks  that 
were  very  sandy,  and  as  a  general  thing  not  in  first- 
class  condition.  I  concluded  to  winter  my  horses  in 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  that  winter,  so  as  to  get  them  in 
good  condition  for  the  next  season's  campaign ;  and 
as  I  had  done  so  well  with  Mattie  Hunter,  her  owner 
concluded  to  leave  her  in  my  hands  to  winter,  and  to 
campaign  the  next  season.  The  weather  was  quite 
warm,  and  the  roads  and  track  were  soft,  and  very 
favorable  for  jogging  horses.  I  took  the  shoes  off 
Mattie  Hunter  after  her  fall  campaign,  and  jogged  her 
barefooted  nearly  all  winter.  She  did  not  require  any 
boots  in  jogging,  and  scarcely  any  at  all  in  her  races. 
While  working  her  barefooted  one  day  in  the  early 
spring  I  drove  her  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  a  high- 
wheeled  sulky  in  thirty  seconds,  a  feat  I  have  never 
known  to  be  equaled  by  any  horse.  She  came  out 
in  the  spring  of  1879  ^^  splendid  condition,  and  I 
believed  her  good  enough  to  go  in  any  company. 
While  pacing  races  up  to  that  time  had  not  been 
favored  at  the  great  race  meetings  of  the  North, 
it  so  happened  that  season  that  there  were  a  number 
of  fast  pacers  being  worked  and  developed  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  among  them  being  Blind  Tom, 
Rowdy  Boy,  Lucy,  Sleepy  George,  and  others.  The 
newspapers  had  printed  so  much  about  the  ex- 
treme speed  each  of  these  horses  could  show,  that  the 
public  clamored  for  their  appearance  in  contests  at 
the  different  large  race  meetings,  and  public  opinion 
demanded  of  the  different  associations  in  the  Grand 
Circuit  that  purses  sufficiently  large  be  offered  to  ac- 
complish their  appearance ;  and  yielding  to  this  de- 
mand, the  associations  did  offer  very  liberal  purses  for 
a  class  of  free-for-all  pacers.    I  knew  that  the  horses  to 

33 


be  met  in  these  races  were  experienced  campaigners, 
and  very  fast,  game,  and  reliable  race  horses.  I  also 
knew  that  in  Mattie  Hunter  I  had  as  good-gaited  a 
pacer  and  as  game  a  race  horse  as  the  turf  had  yet 
seen.  So  I  concluded  to  enter  her  in  these  great  con- 
tests. The  first  of  these  meetings  was  at  Jackson, 
Mich.  And  in  that  race,  as  near  as  I  can  remem- 
ber, were  Blind  Tom,  Lucy,  Rowdy  Boy,  Sleepy 
George,  and  Mattie  Hunter.  This  race  was  won  by 
Blind  Tom,  I  think,  in  about  2.14,  Mattie  Hunter 
finishing  a  very  close  second.  From  there  we  went  to 
Grand  Rapids,  Louisville,  Toledo,  Cleveland,  Chi- 
cago and  other  places.  While  Sleepy  George  was  a 
contending  factor  in  the  first  few  of  these  races  the 
pace  soon  became  too  warm  for  him  and  he  dropped 
out,  leaving  the  great  quartet  to  continue  the  battle. 
These  races  were  the  sensations  of  the  racing  world 
that  year.  I  won  some  of  the  races  with  Mattie 
Hunter,  but  Blind  Tom  carried  off  a  majority  of  the 
victories.  I  think  one  of  the  best  races  I  have  ever 
witnessed  was  in  Chicago,  which  was  won  by  Blind 
Tom.  In  the  fifth  heat  of  that  race,  which  was  paced 
in  about  2.12^,  and  was  won  by  Blind  Tom,  Mattie 
Hunter  finished  second,  and  was  only  about  a  neck 
behind  the  leader.  As  near  as  I  can  now  remember,  I 
gave  Mattie  Hunter  a  record  in  these  races  of  about 
2.13  or  2.14.  While  at  the  meeting  in  Chicago,  Mat- 
tie  Hunter  was  sold  to  Mr.  R.  C.  Pate  of  St.  Louis, 
who  finished  that  season's  campaign  with  her,  and 
raced  her  some  time  afterwards.  She  afterwards  re- 
duced her  record  to  2.12^,  and  was  finally  purchased, 
after  her  racing  days  were  about  over,  by  Mr.  Emery 
of  Cleveland,  where  she  was  used  as  a  brood  mare 
until  she  died  some  time  ago. 

34 


CHAPTER   V. 

TENNESSEE    PASTIMES  — FIRST    MONDAY  — COLT    SHOWS 
—  FOX     HUNTING. 

PEOPLE  residing  in  the  North  who  have  not  visited 
or  become  acquainted  with  the  methods  pecu- 
liar to  the  people  of  Tennessee,  can  hardly  ap- 
preciate some  of  the  pastimes  in  which  those  people 
indulge.  The  first  Monday  of  every  month  in  the 
year  has  been  a  holiday  nearly,  if  not  quite,  ever  since 
the  State  was  settled,  and  on  this  day  nearly  all  the 
people  in  the  county  will  go  to  the  county  seat  and 
spend  the  day.  On  these  days  every  one  who  has 
horses  to  sell  or  trade,  cattle,  pigs,  machinery  or  pro- 
duce to  sell,  will  bring  their  stock  and  property  to  the 
county  seat  to  be  seen,  exhibited,  sold  and  traded,  and 
it  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  several  thousand 
people  to  congregate  there  on  these  occasions,  and 
amusing  incidents  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  Not 
many  years  ago,  on  one  of  these  occasions,  at  Pulaski, 
Giles  County,  a  man  appeared  seated  in  a  wagon, 
having  in  front  of  him  a  glass  churn,  three  or  four  feet 
high,  filled  about  one-half  or  two-thirds  full  of  cream. 
He  was  seated  in  a  large,  easy  rocking  chair,  reading  a 
paper  and  smoking  a  pipe.  There  was  a  rod  running 
from  the  churn  to  the  rocking  chair  and  so  adjusted 
that  every  time  he  rocked  the  dasher  of  the  churn 
would  rise  up  and  down,  and  so  he  continued  to  rock, 
smoke  and  read,  occasionally  looking  out  from  behind 
his  paper  to  see  if   the  butter  had  come  ;  and  many  a 

35 


boy,  as  he  watched  this  process  of  butter-making  and 
remembered  how  his  back  and  arms  ached  when  pur- 
suing the  methods  taught  by  his  father,  voted  this  the 
greatest  invention  of  the  age,  and  that  the  man  who 
invented  that  churn  ought  to  have  cold  watermelon 
the  rest  of  his  days.  Another  feature  of  these  days  is 
the  horse  trading,  and  in  some  counties  it  is  known 
as  "  Jockey  Day,"  and  every  one  who  has  a  horse  he 
desires  to  sell  or  trade  will  bring  him  in  and  put  him 
in  a  yard  known  as  ''Jockey  Yard,"  and  it  is  not  un- 
common to  see  several  hundred  horses  of  all  kinds  and 
descriptions  in  one  of  these  yards,  and  before  night 
they  will  generally  be  disposed  of.  If  any  are  left 
after  the  buyers  and  traders  are  through,  an  auctioneer 
is  brought  in  and  the  balance  are  sold  under  the 
hammer.  When  night  comes,  every  one  who  has 
**  swapped  "  horses  thinks  he  has  made  a  small  fortune 
by  his  cleverness  in  outwitting  the  man  at  the  other 
end  of  the  trade ;  but  I  imagine  they  generally  come 
out  about  the  same  as  the  two  men  of  whom  a  story 
is  told,  who  went  into  the  woods  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
to  chop  wood  ;  one  of  them  had  a  watch  and  the  other 
a  fiddle.  The  first  evening  after  they  arrived  they 
traded  even,  and  each  thought  he  had  made  several 
dollars  by  the  transaction  ;  and  as  this  business  seemed 
to  be  much  easier  and  more  lucrative  than  chopping 
wood,  they  did  nothing  all  winter  but  trade  the  watch 
and  fiddle  back  and  forth  ;  and  when  spring  came  each 
claimed  to  have  made  a  good  winter's  work,  each 
having  the  same  property  he  had  when  winter  began 
and  not  a  dollar  had  passed  between  them.  In  the 
spring  months  stallions  owned  in  the  county,  and 
frequently  those  of  an  outside  county,  are  brought  to- 
gether on  these  days  for  the  inspection  of  farmers  and 

36 


breeders  of  the  vicinity,  and  as  the  saddle  and  pacing 
gaits  are  the  ones  generally  desired  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts, the  horses  are  shown  under  saddle  ;  first  show- 
ing the  saddle  gaits,  such  as  the  fox  trot,  running  walk, 
single  foot  and  canter,  and  then  they  will  go  up  the 
road  a  few  hundred  yards  and  pace  down  to  a  given 
point,  and  sometimes  these  horses  will  show  a  great 
turn  of  speed.  I  think  one  of  the  best  exhibitions  of 
riding  and  speeding  under  saddle  I  ever  remember  to 
have  witnessed  was  at  Lebanon,  when  I  was  a  boy. 
On  one  of  these  days,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  there 
were  a  number  of  stallions  exhibited,  among  them 
being  a  gray  or  white  pacing  stallion,  called  Mountain 
Slasher,  a  horse  well  known  to  Tennesseeans.  This 
horse  was  shown.by  William  Goldston,  one  of  the  best 
riders  and  horsemen  in  the  State.  After  the  horses 
had  shown  their  saddle  gaits  they  all  went  up  the  road 
several  hundred  yards  to  pace  down.  When  they 
were  ready,  Goldston  placed  the  riding  whip  in  his 
mouth,  dropped  the  bridle  rein  on  Slasher's  neck, 
placed  his  hands  on  his  hips  and,  with  arms  akimbo, 
started  with  the  others  ;  and  on  they  came,  Goldston 
sitting  as  erect  as  a  piece  of  statuary,  and  every  little 
while  sticking  the  spurs  into  the  sides  of  Slasher,  who 
with  the  reins  lying  loose  on  his  neck,  and  without 
anything  to  steady  him  except  his  inherent  pacing  in- 
stinct, regardless  of  stones  and  the  rough  uneven  sur- 
face, never  broke  his  true  even  pace,  and  clearly  out- 
paced all  his  competitors  and  carried  off  the  laurels  of 
the  day.  I  mention  this  incident  mainly  to  show  how 
intensely  the  pacing  instinct  is  instilled  in  the  pacing 
horses  of  Tennessee,  and  how  difficult  it  has  been  to 
convert  them  to  trotting.  From  the  time  the  colt  is 
old  enough  to  stand  he  knows  nothing  but  pace,  and 

2>1 


I  have  seen  dogs  set  upon  colts  a  year  or  two  old  and 
they  would  race  across  the  fields  and  never  break  the 
pacing  gait. 

In  that  portion  of  the  State  known  as  Middle  Tennes- 
see, and  in  other  counties  where  the  breeding  of  horses 
is  carried  on  to  any  considerable  extent,  the  custom  of 
holding  colt  shows  has  been  observed  for  many  years. 
These  colt  shows  are  generally  held  in  August,  and 
concluded  just  before  the  beginning  of  the  county 
fairs,  which  commence  early  in  September  and  con- 
tinue through  September  and  a  large  part  of  October. 
They  are  held  in  or  near  the  small  villages  and  are 
looked  forward  to  by  the  farming  community  as  one 
of  the  chief  events  of  the  year.  The  "ring"  is  gen- 
erally made  in  a  shady  woodland,  and  when  the  morn- 
ing of  the  show  arrives  a  sight  is  presented  to  one  not 
accustomed  to  it  as  picturesque  as  it  is  novel.  Along 
the  road  leading  to  the  ring  will  come  the  owner  of  a 
stallion  leading  or  riding  the  pride  of  his  life,  all 
bedecked  with  ribbons  and  groomed  so  slick  as  to  raise 
a  suspicion  that  bear's  grease  has  been  used  in  his  final 
preparation.  Next  will  appear  a  farmer  leading  a 
mare,  beside  which  is  her  off  spring  several  months  old, 
and  often  the  colt  will  be  wearing  a  fancy  bitting 
harness,  in  which  it  seems  perfectly  at  home.  But 
more  curious  than  all  these  is  the  old  colored  mammy 
mounted  on  the  old  reliable  saddle  mare,  with  one  child 
astride  in  front  and  several  mounted  in  the  same 
way  behind,  so  that  this  "beast  of  burden  "  is  loaded 
from  her  shoulders  to  her  tail,  and  traveling  in  this 
manner  most  of  the  community  gather  near  where  the 
exercises  are  to  be  held.  These  shows  commence  in 
the  morning  and  frequently  last  all  day,  and  no  one 
ever  need  be  afraid  that  he  will  suffer  from  hunger  in 

38 


attending  a  show  of  this  character,  as  the  good  and 
thoughtful  housewives  of  the  exhibitors  will   prepare 
a  spread  large  enough  to  feed  an  army.     Several  thou- 
sand people  often  attend  these   shows,  and  they  are 
not  only  very  enjoyable  but  instructive  to  the  breed- 
ers  who    attend.     Classes   are    made    and    premiums 
offered  for  pretty  much  everything,  including  stallions, 
brood  mares,  sucklings,  yearlings,  two  and  three-year- 
old  colts,  etc.    When  the  master  of  ceremonies  is  ready, 
the  judges  enter  the  ring  and  class  after  class  is  brought 
in    and  exhibited,  and  it  will  surprise  a  novice  to  see 
how  fast  some  of  these  colts  can  pace.     Seated  upon  a 
running  or  pacing  horse  the  attendant  will    take  the 
reins  attached  to   the   colt's  bitting  harness  and  away 
they  will  fly,  the  colt  pacing  up  to  the  saddler's  head. 
This  manner  of  exhibiting  speed  is  observed  with  the 
different  colt    classes,  and  when   everything   any  one 
desires  to  enter  has  been  exhibited  and  passed  upon  by 
the  judges,  the  crowd  disperses  to  assemble  again  in  a 
few  days  at  some  neighboring  village,  where  the  same 
ceremony  is  repeated,  and   at   these  miniature   fairs  is 
commenced  the  career  of  some  of  the  great  horses  the 
State  sends  out  to  the  racing  world. 

Fox  hunting  is  a  custom  common  to  most  of  the  South- 
ern States,  and  I  know  of  no  sport  more  enjoyable  or 
exhilarating,  not  even  an  exciting  horse  race ;  and  I 
have  spent  many  happy  hours  in  this  enjoyable  pas- 
time. Many  of  the  prominent  residents  of  these  States 
own  packs  of  hounds,  and  when  a  fox  hunt  is  desired, 
frequently  several  neighbors  will  assemble  together, 
when  the  host  will  produce  a  fox-horn,  blow  a  blast  or 
two,  and  the  hounds  will  come  running  and  baying 
from  all  directions,  ready  and  eager  for  the  chase. 
Then,  mounted  on  saddle  horses,  the  hunters  with  the 

39 


hounds  will  start  for  some  locality  where  the  red  fox  is 
supposed  to  have  his  domicile,  and  when  that  territory 
is  reached  the  fun  commences.  When  the  dogs  strike 
the  trail  there  is  no  mistaking  the  fact,  as  their  deep, 
rich  voices  can  be  heard  for  miles,  and,  as  soon  as 
they  indicate  the  direction  in  which  the  fox  is  heading, 
the  hunters  start  at  breakneck  speed  and  endeavor  to 
keep  within  hailing  distance  of  the  hounds.  These  hunts 
are  often  had  at  night  when  it  is  so  dark  that  the 
hunters  can  scarcely  see  ten  feet  ahead,  and  the  course 
pursued  by  the  fox  frequently  requires  them  to  ride 
through  the  woods,  over  fences  and  ditches,  logs  and 
rocks,  up  and  down  hills  so  steep,  that  serious  injury 
seems  to  await  both  horses  and  riders ;  but  these  hunters 
are  fearless,  and  experts  in  the  saddle,  and  the  horses 
are  surefooted  and  courageous,  and  seem  to  enter  into 
the  spirit  of  the  chase  with  as  much  enthusiasm  as 
the  riders,  and  accidents  of  any  consequence  rarely 
happen.  When  the  fox  is  caught  or  the  chase  aban- 
doned, a  blast  on  the  horn  will  call  the  hounds  to  the 
hunters,  and  another  field  will  be  invaded  ;  or  hunters 
and  hounds  will  return  to  their  homes,  and,  whether 
laden  with  the  trophies  of  victory  or  not,  they  have 
enjoyed  a  most  delightful  outing.  I  recall  one  hunt  of 
this  character  which  occurred  when  I  was  a  boy,  that 
was  so  fraught  with  exciting  and  comical  incidents  I 
cannot  repress  the  impulse  to  relate  it.  One  of  our 
neighbors  was  Squire  Winford,  whose  son  Alfred  was 
about  my  own  age,  and  we  were  great  chums.  Squire 
Winford  had  one  of  the  best  packs  of  fox  hounds  in 
the  State,  and  in  this  pack  were  two  of  the  best 
hounds  I  ever  saw.  Their  names  were  "Troupe  "  and 
"  Flounce."  I  then  owed  five  or  six  pretty  good 
hounds,  and  Alfred  and  I  often  went  fox  hunting  with 

40 


our  combined  forces.     Some   two  or  three  miles  from 
our  house   one  of  the  largest   red   foxes  ever  seen  in 
that  locality  had  his  habitation,  and  he  was  known  far 
and  wide  as  "Old  Spot,"  because  he  had  a  large  white 
spot    on  his  right  side,  which  was    plainly  visible  to 
hunters  in  the  daytime.     Old  Spot  was  as  game  and 
wily  as  any  fox  that  ever  led  a  pack  of  hounds  a  for- 
lorn   chase,  and    seemed    to  enjoy  being   pursued  by 
hounds  better  than  stealing  and  eating  a  tender  young 
chicken  from  a  farmer's  hencoop  ;  and  whenever  Alfred 
and  I  wanted  some  fun  we  would  take  the  dogs  down 
to  the  domain  of  Old  Spot,  who  seemed  to  anticipate 
our  coming  and  was    always   ready  to  mingle  in  the 
sport.       He  had   his    regular  runways,    and    had    so 
planned  his  course  that  it  would  describe  the  figure  8 
and  cross  and  recross  his  tracks,  and  when  the  hounds 
would  get  tired  of   following  him  he  would  seek  his 
resting  place  and  be  ready  for  another  chase.     We  had 
chased  him  so  much  that  we  did  not  believe  all  the 
hounds  in  the  State  could  catch  him,  and  so  declared 
to    our  friends  ;    and  this    declaration    stirred    up  the 
hunting  blood  of  a  number  of  sportsmen  far  and  near, 
who  each  claimed  to  have  the  best  dogs  in  the  world, 
and  ones  that  no  fox  could  escape,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  an  organized  effort  was  suggested  to  try  and 
catch    Old   Spot.     The  ones  forming  this  sanguinary 
syndicate  were  Mr.  A.,  Mr.  G.,  Mr.  B.,  Mr.  S.,  Alfred 
and  myself.     Each  of  these  gentlemen  had  a  pack  of 
hounds,  numbering  about  nine  or  ten,  so  that  when 
the  hunters   assembled   there   were   more   than    fifty 
hounds,  each  eager  to  get  the  first  taste  of  blood  from 
Old  Spot.     At  the  head  of  Mr.  A.'s  pack  was  a  hound 
called  "  Ranger,"  that  was  celebrated  for  his  fleetness 
and  staying  qualities.     The  pack  of  Mr.  G.  was  led  by 

41 


a  hound  called  "  Revenge,"  to  whom  his  owner  was 
deeply  attached,  and  who  claimed  that  no  fox  in 
Tennessee  could  outrun  or  outlast  him.  The  pride  of 
of  Mr.  B.'s  pack  was  a  dog  called  '*  Royalty,"  who  had 
never  been  defeated  in  a  chase ;  while  Mr.  S.  was  the 
proud  owner  of  a  hound  called  ''  Leader,"  who  was  at 
the  head  of  what  he  considered  the  best  pack  of 
hounds  in  several  counties.  Arrangements  were  made 
to  start  upon  the  expedition  to  exterminate  Old  Spot 
between  sundown  and  dark  one  evening,  and  at  the 
appointed  hour  the  hunters,  with  their  fifty  or  sixty 
hounds,  assembled,  and  at  the  word  of  command  we 
all  started  in  quest  of  Old  Spot.  We  soon  arrived 
upon  his  favorite  racing  ground,  and  it  seemed  as 
though  he  must  have  intuitively  known  of  our  coming 
and  had  already  taken  a  warming-up  heat,  for  we  had 
scarcely  invaded  his  territory  before  up  he  jumped  and 
challenged  the  formidable  array  of  death  pursuers  to  a 
test  of  skill,  speed  and  endurance  ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
race  commenced  the  volume  of  noise  that  came  forth 
from  the  mouths  of  this  army  of  fox  destroyers  was 
sufficient  to  remind  one  of  an  artillery  engagement, 
and  as  pursued  and  pursuers  sped  over  the  hills  and 
the  voices  of  the  hounds  echoed  and  reechoed 
through  the  woods  the  voices  of  the  different  ones 
could  be  clearly  recognized.  Alfred  and  I  were  so 
familiar  with  the  tactics  of  Old  Spot  that  we  could 
tell  about  the  course  he  would  pursue,  and  at  our  sug- 
gestion all  the  hunters  dismounted,  hitched  their 
horses,  and  we  built  a  fire  and  prepared  to  make  our- 
selves comfortable  during  the  night  if  the  chase  should 
last  that  long,  and  Alfred  and  I  believed  it  would.  As 
the  race  progressed  and  the  voice  of  Ranger  could  be 
heard,   Mr.  A.  said  that    it  was  not   possible    for  the 

42 


chase  to  last  much  longer,  as  no  fox  ever  lived  that 
could  keep  on  earth  before  the  terrific  speed  of  that 
dog.  On  they  went,  and  as  the  voice  of  Revenge  was 
heard,  his  owner  requested  us  to  listen  to  the  pace  he 
was  setting,  and  assured  us  that  Old  Spot  made  a  mis- 
take when  he  entered  the  race  in  front  of  him.  As 
Old  Spot  circled  round,  and  crossed  and  recrossed 
his  tracks,  the  well-known  voice  of  Royalty  was  recog- 
nized, close  up  to  the  leaders,  and  his  owner  said  that 
Old  Spot  would  be  obliged  to  find  a  hole  of  some  kind 
very  soon,  as  no  fox  could  stand  the  pace  that 
Royalty  could  set  when  he  became  thoroughly  warmed 
up,  a  condition  to  which  he  seemed  to  be  fast 
approaching.  When  the  owner  of  Leader  heard  the 
voice  of  his  favorite  dog,  he  poked  the  fire  and  lighted 
his  pipe,  and  offered  to  bet  a  mule  against  a  jack- 
knife  that  Old  Spot  would  not  last  an  hour.  One  of 
the  hounds  belonging  to  the  pack  of  Mr.  A.  was  named 
"  Old  Cuff,"  who  had  a  voice  like  a  calliope,  which 
could  be  distinctly  heard  above  the  roar  of  the  other 
voices  ;  and  when  the  dogs  were  fairly  straightened  out 
in  the  race.  Old  Cuff  was  a  long  ways  behind  the 
leaders  and  seemed  to  be  bringing  up  the  rear,  but  his 
owner  said  that  if  the  chase  should  last  all  night  Old 
Cuff  would  be  found  in  the  front  ranks  in  the  early 
morning,  and  so  for  several  hours  we  sat  around  the 
fire,  smoked,  told  stories,  and  listened  to  the  great  feats 
that  each  of  these  pet  dogs  could  accomplish.  Alfred 
said  nothing  in  praise  of  the  ability  of  Old  Troupe  and 
Flounce.  Old  Spot  continued  his  usual  tactics  of 
circling  and  keeping  just  far  enough  ahead  of  the 
dogs  to  be  cruelly  tantalizing.  About  midnight  a 
number  of  the  hounds  came  straggling  into  camp. 
Old  Spot,  wishing  to  give  his  pursuers  an  enjoyable 

43 


entertainment,  changed  his  course  and  ran  so  far  from 
us  that  for  an  hour  or  two  the  dogs  were  entirely  out 
of  hearing,  and  during  this  period  Old  Ranger 
appeared,  and  when  his  owner  saw  him  he  said  the 
fox  must  either  be  dead  or  in  his  hole,  as  his  old, 
reliable  dog  would  never  have  left  him  alive.  Then 
in  succession  appeared  Revenge,  Royalty  and  Leader, 
and  when  they  came  their  owners  each  said  the  chase 
was  all  over,  that  the  fox  had  retired  for  the  night,  and 
we  had  better  follow  his  example.  Other  dogs  of  less 
celebrity  than  these  also  came  straggling  in  and  made 
themselves  comfortable  by  the  fire.  While  Alfred 
heard  these  suggestions  about  retiring  he  said  nothing, 
but  kept  up  a  lively  thinking,  and  about  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning  went  down  a  little  ways  from  the  fire 
and  listened,  and  heard  the  familiar  voices  of  Old 
Troupe  and  Flounce  in  the  dim  distance,  apparently 
heading  towards  us.  By  this  time  nearly  all  the  dogs 
except  Old  Troupe  and  Flounce  had  abandoned  the 
chase,  and  as  Old  Spot  drew  near  to  where  we  were 
standing  Alfred  called  upon  the  owners  of  the  other 
dogs,  who  had  talked  so  loudly  about  their  prowess,  to 
"  call  out  their  dogs  of  high-sounding  names  and  royal 
lineage  and  let  them  join  Old  Troupe  and  Flounce  and 
be  in  at  the  death."  And  these  gentlemen  did  rally 
their  dogs,  who  once  more  joined  in  the  chase,  but 
they  soon  tired  and  returned  to  camp.  Old  Spot,  with 
Troupe  and  Flounce  close  behind  him,  circled  near  us 
several  times,  and  each  time  the  rest  of  the  several 
packs  would  join  in  the  chase,  only  to  soon  return  in 
apparent  disgust.  Old  Cuff,  however,  proved  himself 
a  stayer,  and  although  unable  to  keep  near  the  leaders 
his  great  voice  could  be  plainly  heard  a  mile  or  so 
behind  during  the  latter  part  of  the  chase.     Finally, 

44 


b/3    ? 


5    t/) 


O  s 


Old  Spot,  thinking  he  had  afforded  his  intending  cap- 
tors sufficient  amusement  for  one  night,  headed  for  his 
old  resting  place,  and  just  as  the  morning  sun  began  to 
gild  the  eastern  horizon  he  appeared  in  sight  running 
easy  and  fast,  and  about  a  hundred  yards  behind  him 
were  Old  Troupe  and  Flounce  running  side  by  side, 
the  clarion  tones  of  their  musical  voices  mingling  with 
the  songs  of  the  wild  birds,  and  thus  they  continued 
for  a  short  distance,  when  Old  Spot  entered  his  den  to 
rest  and  get  ready  for  another  entertainment.  At  the 
closing  hours  of  the  chase  all  but  about  half  a  dozen 
doofs  had  retired  from  the  contest,  and  these  few  were 
so  far  behind  Old  Troupe  and  Flounce  as  to  clearly 
show  they  were  outclassed.  The  owners  of  these 
much-touted  dogs  were  honest  in  their  belief  that 
their  dogs  were  great,  and  able  to  catch  any  fox  that 
wore  fur,  but  the  contest  to  which  they  were  invited 
was  essentially  different  from  any  in  which  they  had 
ever  participated  and  Old  Spot  was  a  different  racer 
than  any  which  their  dogs  had  ever  pursued. 

The  next  year  I  was  employed  by  Mr.  John  Harding 
to  break  and  handle  some  young  animals  he  owned. 
His  place  was  on  the  Cumberland  River,  about  nine 
miles  from  Nashville.  Near  him  lived  Mr.  David 
Magavock,  who  owned  a  large  pack  and  I  often  went 
hunting  with  him.  I  told  him  of  Troupe  and  Flounce 
and  what  great  dogs  they  were,  and  as  Alfred  had 
married  and  moved  away,  and  no  one  was  left  to  hunt 
with  Squire  Winford's  dogs  I  recommended  them  to 
him,  and  he  purchased  them  and  considered  them  the 
best  dogs  he  ever  saw.  Troupe  got  one  of  his  legs 
broken  and  was  shut  up  in  the  carriage  house.  One 
day  while  he  was  there  the  dogs  started  a  gray  fox  not 
far  from  the  house,  and,  notwithstanding  his  broken 

45 


leg,  Old  Troupe  got  out  and  joined  in  the  chase.  The 
fox  was  soon  caught,  and  one  of  the  first  dogs  at  the 
death  was  Old  Troupe,  who  stood  over  the  fox  holding 
up  his  broken  leg  with  the  broken  bone  protruding 
through  the  skin,  and  seeing  him  in  that  condition 
Frank  Magavock,  a  son  of  the  owner  of  the  dog, 
thoughtlessly  drew  his  revolver  and  shot  him  ;  and 
when  I  witnessed  the  death  of  that  noble  dog  there 
was  something  came  up  in  my  throat,  and  I  experi- 
enced a  sorrow  and  grief  I  cannot  express. 

The  horses  ridden  upon  these  occasions  in  Tennes- 
see embrace  the  best  and  speediest  that  State  has  pro- 
duced. Tom,  Hal,  Clipper,  Brooks,  Mattie  Hunter, 
Little  Brown  Jug,  Joe  Braden,  Joe  Bowers,  Brown 
Hal,  Hal  Pointer,  Bay  Tom,  Duplex,  Locomotive,  and 
Mountain  Slasher  have  all  participated  in  these  hunts 
and  contributed  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  owners. 


46 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  HAL  FAMILY— KITTRELL'S  HAL  — GIBSON'S  TOM 
HAL  — LITTLE  BROWN  J  U  G  —  LO  C  OMO  T  IV  E — 
BROWN  HAL— HAL  POINTER. 

THE  pacing  interests  of  Tennessee  were  fortu- 
nate in  the  quality  of  the  horses  which  were 
brought  to  the  State  at  an  early  day,  from 
which  sprung  the  great  campaigners  that  have  given 
to  the  State  its  exclusive  title  of  the  mother  of  the 
pacing  family.  Back  in  the  fifties,  Major  Kittrell  of 
Taylorsville,  Tenn.,  went  to  Kentucky,  and  purchased 
a  roan  saddle  stallion  that  was  a  natural  pacer ;  this 
horse  became  known  as  Kittrell's  Hal,  and  is  the 
foundation  head  from  which  has  come  nearly  all  the 
celebrated  horses  from  that  State.  Other  pacing  and 
saddle  liorses  were  brought  to  the  State  from  Ken- 
tucky about  the  same  time  ;  but,  as  my  name  has  been 
associated  to  a  considerable  extent  with  the  Hal  family, 
I  shall  confine  my  observations  to  it.  Kittrell's  Hal 
was  a  horse  about  153/j^  hands  high,  very  heavily 
muscled,  and  in  the  exhibitions  of  speed  which  he  gave 
under  the  saddle  at  fairs  and  other  horse  shows 
proved  him  to  be  a  fast,  natural  pacer,  but  he  never 
was  handled  for  speed.  The  facts  obtainable  respect- 
ing his  breeding  are  so  few  and  unsatisfactory  as  to 
render  any  statement  concerning  it  unwarranted,  but 
that  he  was  a  highly-bred  horse  there  can  scarcely  be  a 
doubt.  In  1862  he  was  bred  to  a  mare  called  Betsey 
Baker,  the    produce    being    Gibson's  Tom    Hal,    Old 

47 


Tom  Hal,  or  Tom  Hal,  Jr.,  as  he  is  known  in  the 
registry.  Betsey  Baker  was  a  mare  fully  one-half 
thoroughbred.  Gibson's  Tom  Hal  was  speeded  under 
saddle  at  the  country  fairs  and  spent  much  of  his  time 
before  the  plow  and  the  log  wagon,  and  was  never 
hitched  to  a  sulky. 

He  was  a  roan  horse  about  15}^  hands  high,  and 
one  of  the  strongest  and  best  muscled  horses  I  ever 
saw;  and  when  he  died,  in  1890,  being  then  twenty- 
seven  years  old,  his  back  was  as  straight  as  a  two-year- 
old,  and  his  muscular  development  showed  no  signs 
of  impairment. 


43 


THE  first  of  his  get  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
country  was  Little  Brown  Jug,  and  his  history 
is   so   unique    I    think   it  well  deserves  to  be 
given  here.     In   1874,  Mr.  O.  N.  Fry,  of  Mooresville, 
Tenn.,  was  the  owner  of  Gibson's  Tom  Hal,  who  was 
making  the  season  at  $5   by  the   insurance,    and    if, 
when   the   colt  was  old  enough  to  wean,  it  did  not 
show  the  saddle  gaits  no  fee  whatever  was    charged. 
A  neighbor  of  Mr.  Fry  then  owned   a   mare   named 
Lizzie,  by  John  Netherland,  a  pacing-bred  horse.     Mr. 
Fry  happened  to  meet  the  owner  of  Lizzie  one  day 
and  suggested  to  him  the  advisability  of  breeding  Liz- 
zie to  Tom   Hal;  but  the  owner  of  Lizzie  demurred, 
saying  he  could  raise  a  mule,  and  that  when  the  mule 
was  a  year  old  he   could   sell  it   for  $50,  which  was 
much  better  than  he  could  do  raising  colts.     Finally, 
Mr.  Fry  proposed  that  if  he  would  breed  to  Tom  Hal 
he  would  pay  him  $50  for  the  colt  when  it  was  a  year 
old,  if  sound  and  all  right.     This  proposition  was  ac- 
cepted, and  one  day  the  next  year  the  man  appeared 
at  Mr.  Fry's  place  leading  a  colt  so  thin  that  he  would 
hardly  make  a  shadow,  and  in  addition  to  apparently 
being  half  starved,  he  was  covered  with  lice,  which 
had  eaten  his  mane  and  tail  and   nearly  finished  what 
little  vitality  was   in  his  body.     This  colt  was   Little 
Brown   Jug,  which  this  man  had  brought  to  Mr.  Fry 
pursuant   to   their  contract,   as  he   claimed,    and    de- 
manded the  $50.     When   Mr.  Fry  saw  the  colt  he  re- 
fused to  receive  him,  and  told  the  man  he  did  not  want 
such  a  looking  colt  upon  his  place.     The  man  said  he 
had  no  money  and  had  relied  upon  the  promised  $50 

49 


to  buy  necessaries  for  his  family,  and  finally  Mr.  Fry, 
out  of  sympathy  but  under  protest,  took  the  colt  and 
paid  the  S50.  After  a  thorough  cleaning  and  cleans- 
ing the  colt  was  given  plenty  to  eat  and  improved 
very  rapidly.  The  next  year  Mr.  Fry  leased  a  por- 
tion of  his  farm  to  a  colored  man  to  work  on  shares, 
who  had  no  horse,  and  in  the  spring  that  Little  Brown 
Jug  was  two  years  old  he  was  sold  by  Mr.  Fry  to  this 
colored  man  for  $75.  The  colored  man  broke  him  to 
harness  and  used  him  to  plow  the  land  and  put  in  his 
crops ;  and  in  addition  to  this  work  every  Sunday  his 
wife  and  two  or  three  children  would  get  upon  the 
back  of  the  colt  and  ride  several  miles  to  church ;  and, 
in  addition  to  all  this,  the  colored  man's  son  had  a 
sweetheart  who  lived  two  or  three  miles  from  his 
home,  and  he  would  take  this  colt,  after  having  worked 
him  all  day,  and  go  across  the  fields  to  the  home  of 
his  sweetheart,  hitch  him  outdoors,  where  he  would 
stand  with  nothing  to  eat,  and  often  in  the  storms, 
until  the  early  hours  of  the  morning.  This  per- 
formance was  repeated  several  times  a  week  during 
the  entire  season.  When  fall  came  the  colt  was  in  a 
pitiable  condition,  and  showed  his  hard  usage  very 
plainly.  That  fall  the  wife  of  the  colored  man  was 
taken  sick,  and,  after  attending  her  for  some  time,  the 
doctor  refused  to  come  any  more  unless  Mr.  Fry 
would  become  responsible  for  his  bill,  which  he  finally 
consented  to  do,  and  the  doctor  attended  her  until  she 
died.  The  doctor's  bill  was  $60,  and  seeing  there  was 
no  other  way  out  of  the  difBculty  the  colored  man 
gave  the  colt  to  Mr.  Fry  and  he  paid  the  doctor  the 
$60.  At  that  time  the  colt  could  not  be  sold  for  $60, 
and  Mr.  Fry  only  allowed  that  amount  for  him  be- 
cause there  was  nothing  else  for  him  to  do.     The  colt 

50 


was  then  turned  out  and  with  rest  and  plenty  of  feed 
soon  commenced  to  improve,  and  in  the  summer  and 
fall  of  1878,  when  the  colt  was  three  years  old,  Mr.  Fry 
rode  him  to  the  colt  shows  and  fairs  and  soon  dis- 
covered that  he  could  pace  fast,  and  the  next  year 
placed  him  in  the  hands  of  a  trainer  who  trained  on  a 
half-mile  track  near  Lewisburg,  Tenn.  The  rapidity 
with  which  he  improved  was  simply  astonishing,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  that  half-starved  and  much-abused  colt 
became  one  of  the  speediest  horses  that  had  up  to 
that  time  ever  been  seen  in  harness.  I  saw  him  at 
Nashville  the  following  spring,  and  gave  him  a  work- 
out, and  I  do  not  think  I  was  ever  behind  a  stronger, 
easier  going  horse.  His  conformation  was  the  most 
remarkable  of  any  horse  ever  seen  upon  the  turf.  He 
was  only  about  fifteen  hands  high,  a  rich  brown  in 
color,  his  slim  neck,  small  ears,  large  expressive  eyes, 
and  finely-molded  head,  clearly  showed  the  thorough- 
bred blood  which  he  had  inherited ;  but  the  most  re- 
markable thing  about  him  was  his  abnormal  muscular 
development.  His  fore  legs  were  large,  flat  and  well 
tapered,  and  his  hind  quarters  were  so  immense  as  to 
make  him  look  like  a  deformity.  What  he  was  as  a 
race  horse  we  know,  but  what  he  might  have  been  had 
he  received  the  care  and  attention  in  his  early  career 
bestowed  upon  promising  race  horses  in  modern  times 
is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  It  is  claimed  by  reliable 
people  that  he  paced  a  trial  quarter  on  a  poor  half- 
mile  track  the  first  season  he  was  handled  in  thirty 
seconds,  and  that  the  next  year  he  paced  a  half  mile  to 
a  high-wheeled  sulky  in  one  minute,  and  many  people 
still  believe  him  to  have  been  possessed  of  as  much 
natural  speed  as  any  horse  that  ever  lived,  and  I  am 
not  prepared  to  say  but  what  this  belief  is  well  founded. 

51 


ANOTHER  son  of  Tom  Hal,  which,  though  little 
known  to  the  outside  world,  was,  as  many  believe, 
at  least  equally  as  fast  as  any  of  his  get,  was  the 
gray  stallion  Locomotive.  This  horse  also  has  a  pecu- 
liar history.  His  dam  was  by  a  horse  called  Rock,  about 
half  thoroughbred  and  quite  a  celebrated  quarter  horse. 
Locomotive  was  bred,  and  all  his  life  owned,  in  the 
rural  districts  of  Tennessee,  and  was  never  to  my 
knowledge  hitched  to  a  sulky  nor  conditioned  for 
racing.  He  was  a  very  large,  powerful  horse,  fully 
15^  hands  high,  and  would  weigh  about  1,300  pounds, 
and  his  appearance  more  resembled  that  of  a  truck 
horse  than  that  of  an  ideal  racer.  If  he  was  ever  used 
in  harness  it  was  before  the  plow,  the  log  wagon,  or 
doing  some  other  heavy  work.  He  was  in  the  stud 
for  many  years  and  frequently  exhibited  at  the  differ- 
ent horse  shows  under  saddle,  and  many  gentlemen 
now  living  in  Marshall  and  Maury  counties,  Tennessee, 
who  have  seen  him  at  these  exhibitions,  declare  they 
have  seen  him  pace  a  quarter  of  a  mile  under  saddle 
in  thirty  seconds.  I  have  often  seen  him  at  these  ex- 
hibitions, but  never  held  a  watch  on  him  ;  but  this  I 
do  know,  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  rapid-gaited  and 
powerful-going  horses  I  ever  saw,  and  seemed  to  have 
as  much  natural  speed  as  any  of  his  distinguished 
half  brothers,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not 
appear  at  a  time  when  the  pacing  gait  was  appreciated, 
and  his  speed  ability  properly  developed.  As  a  sad 
illustration  of  the  neglect  to  which  this  grand  horse 
was  subjected,  I  will  cite  the  following  incident :  In 
1878  (I  think  that  was  the  year,  but    am  not  entirely 

52 


certain)  a  fair  was  held  at  the  old  fair  ground  near 
Columbia,  at  which  a  race  was  arranged  between  Loco- 
motive under  saddle  and  old  Joe  Bowers  in  harness. 
Near  the  track  was  a  creek  with  quite  a  volume  of  water. 
Two  heats  of  the  race  were  paced  in  the  evening,  each 
horse  winning  one  heat.  After  each  heat  the  rider  and 
owner  of  Locomotive  rode  him  into  the  creek  to  cool 
him  out.  The  water  was  up  to  about  the  horse's  side, 
and  he  cooled  him  out  by  splashing  the  water  over  his 
heated  body,  and,  as  though  this  treatment  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  ruin  him,  that  evening  he  was  fed  twenty-two 
ears  of  green  corn  for  his  evening's  feed.  It  is  a  well 
authenticated  fact  that  the  horse  ate  fourteen  ears 
of  this  corn,  and  the  result  was,  what  might  have  been 
expected,  the  next  morning  he  was  not  in  racing  con- 
dition, and  his  racing  days  were  practically  over.  Thus 
ended  the  racing  career  of  a  horse  that  would  have 
added  additional  lustre  to  the  name  of  his  distinguished 
sire  had  he  been  given  the  opportunity  to  demonstrate 
the  ability  with  which  he  was  so  richly  endowed. 


53 


T)  ROWN  HAL,  a  full  brother  to  Little  Brown  Jug, 
j  J  was  purchased  by  Major  Campbell  Brown  and 
Captain  M.  C.  Campbell  when  he  was  three  years 
old,  and,  by  reason  of  the  brilliant  achievements  of 
Little  Brown  Jug,  it  was  but  natural  to  expect  that  his 
full  brother  would  prove  to  be  a  race  horse  of  a  high 
order.  His  early  training  clearly  indicated  that  this 
expectation  would  be  realized.  In  looks  and  conforma- 
tion there  is  scarcely  any  resemblance  between  Brown 
Hal  and  Little  Brown  Jug.  Brown  Hal  has  a  long 
body  and  rather  a  rangy  conformation.  He  is  about 
15. 2J^  hands  high,  and  wil  Iweigh  about  1,100  pounds. 
One  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Hal  family  is  that  they 
are  rather  slow  in  developing  speed,  and  it  is  rather 
uncommon  to  find  a  young  colt  of  this  family  show- 
ing a  fast  gait ;  but  from  the  time  Brown  Hal  com- 
menced to  be  used  under  the  saddle,  when  he  was  two 
years  old,  he  could  pace  fast  ;  and  when  he  was  pur- 
chased by  Messrs.  Brown  and  Campbell  he  was  recog- 
nized as  a  very  promising  colt.  At  that  time  Mr. 
John  Bostwick,  an  experienced  trainer,  was  handling  the 
horses  in  Major  Brown's  stable,  and  he  gave  him  his 
first  education  in  speeding  in  harness.  At  one  time  it 
was  thought  he  could  be  converted  to  the  trotting  gait, 
and  Mr.  Bostwick  experimented  with  him  the  first 
season  he  handled  him  in  an  attempt  to  make  a  fast 
trotter  of  him.  While  this  experiment  was  in  prog- 
ress I  saw  him  trot  a  mile  in  2.21,  and  I  believe  that 
was  about  as  fast  as  he  ever  trotted.  He  was  a  pure- 
gaited  natural  pacer,  and  the  weight  required  to  make 
him  trot  was  so  great  it  became  evident  that  if  he  suc- 

54 


ceeded  in  making  a  great  race  horse  it  would  be  as  a 
pacer,  and  all  further  attempts  to  make  a  trotting  race 
horse  of  him  were  abandoned.  He  was  very  fast  in 
the  pacing  gait  from  the  time  he  was  first  handled 
at  that  gait  ;  and  the  first  year  he  was  taken  North 
and  started  in  the  pacing  races  I  do  not  think  he  lost 
a  race,  and,  as  I  remember,  it  was  that  year,  or  the 
next,  that  Mr.  Bostwick  gave  him  a  record  of  2.13. 
On  Major  Brown's  place  were  several  large  paddocks 
enclosed  by  high  picket  fences,  where  stallions  were 
turned  when  not  in  training;  and  the  next  winter 
after  Brown  Hal  made  this  record  he  was  running  in 
one  of  these  paddocks,  and  in  an  adjoining  paddock 
was  another  stallion.  These  two  stallions  commenced 
fighting  through  the  fence  separating  them,  when 
Brown  Hal  reared  and  caught  one  of  his  fore  legs 
between  the  pickets,  and  this  accident  sprained  a 
tendon  of  that  leg  so  seriously  that  he  never  fully  re- 
covered from  it.  Brown  Hal  was  placed  in  my  hands 
to  train  early  in  the  season  of  1889,  ^.nd,  although  he 
was  in  the  stud,  I  gave  him  a  long  and  careful  prepara- 
tion ;  but  from  the  time  I  first  commenced  to  work 
him  I  was  fearful  of  that  injured  leg,  and  had  my 
doubts  about  his  being  able  to  stand  the  strain  incident 
to  training  and  campaigning.  I  went  along  very  slow 
and  careful  with  him,  and  did  not  attempt  to  give  him 
any  fast  work  for  several  months  after  I  commenced 
with  him,  as  I  was  satisfied  that  if  his  leg  would  only 
stand  the  hardships,  and  I  could  get  him  in  proper 
condition,  he  had  sufficient  speed  to  wipe  out  all 
pacing  records  and  defeat  any  horse  then  upon  the  turf. 
Along  in  June  I  had  him  in  good  racing  condition, 
and  as  his  ailing  leg  still  stood  the  work  I  think  he 
was  then  the  fastest  horse  I  ever  saw.     In  one  of  his 

55 


workouts  that  season,  before  leaving  for  the  North,  I 
drove  him  to  a  high-wheeled  Toomycart  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  in  28^  seconds  ;  but  the  hard  work  necessary  to 
properly  prepare  him  for  the  coming  campaign  finally 
began  to  affect  that  leg,  and  it  was  with  many  misgiv- 
ings that  I  concluded  to  start  him  in  the  free-for-all 
pace  at  Cleveland,  in  which  he  had  been  entered,  as 
he  had  already  commenced  to  go  lame  in  the  fast 
workouts  I  was  giving  him.  But  it  was  finally  con- 
cluded that  he  would  probably  never  be  in  better 
condition  to  go  a  fast  race  than  he  then  was,  and  under 
all  the  circumstances  we  had  better  start  him.  In  that 
race  were  entered  several  of  the  fastest  pacers  then  in 
training,  among  them  being  Roy  Wilkes,  whom  I  knew 
to  be  a  dangerous  competitor,  fori  had  on  several  occa- 
sions met  and  defeated  him  with  Duplex.  In  the 
warming-up  heat  before  the  race, Brown  Hal  showed  con- 
siderable lameness.  At  the  commencement  of  that  race 
the  record  of  2.13  held  by  Brown  Hal  was  the  pacing 
stallion  race  record,  but  in  the  first  heat  of  that  race, 
which  was  won  by  Roy  Wilkes,  the  record  was  reduced 
to  2.12^,  and  for  a  short  period  Roy  Wilkes  was  the 
king  of  pacing  stallions.  This  heat  satisfied  me  that 
with  Brown  Hal's  lameness  increasing  all  the  time,  the 
race  would  be  a  hard  one,  but  I  still  thought  that,  if 
he  did  not  give  out  entirely,  I  could  win  the  race.  We 
got  a  good  start  in  the  second  heat  and  I  called  upon 
Brown  Hal  for  his  best  effort  and  he  did  not  disappoint 
me  and  won  the  heat  in  2.12^,  and  thereby  again 
became  king  of  this  division.  But  this  heat  seriously 
affected  his  leg  and  the  next  heat  was  won  by  Roy 
Wilkes  in  slower  time.  I  rushed  Brown  Hal  for  the 
fourth  heat,  and,  notwithstanding  his  lameness  kept 
increasing,  he  won  the  heat.     When  the  horses  came 

56 


out  for  the  fifth  heat,  Brown  Hal  was  so  lame  that 
he  could  scarcely  touch  the  foot  of  his  injured  leg 
to  the  ground,  and  when  we  were  sent  away  I  could 
hardly  get  him  to  pace  at  all,  and  during  the  first  few 
rods  he  could  not  pace  a  2.30  gait,  and  before  the 
eighth  of  the  mile  pole  was  reached  he  broke,  and 
before  I  could  get  him  settled  all  the  horses,  with  Roy 
Wilkes  in  the  lead,  were  at  least  100  yards  ahead  of 
me  at  the  first  quarter ;  but  about  this  time  I  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  Brown  Hal  on  his  stride,  and  he 
seemed  to  be  inspired  with  a  determination  to  win  that 
heat,  even  if  he  had  but  three  good  legs  and  his  cour- 
age with  which  to  make  the  effort,  and  he  seemed  to 
fairly  fly  in  pursuit  of  the  leaders.  I  soon  over- 
took and  passed  the  rear  horses,  but  Roy  Wilkes  still 
maintained  his  lead  until  near  the  draw  gate,  when  I 
came  up  to  him  and  saw  he  was  so  tired  that  he  was 
reeling  and  had  had  about  enough.  Brown  Hal  was 
also  in  about  the  same  condition  and  both  horses 
showed  signs  of  distress.  When  within  a  few  feet  of 
the  wire  I  took  a  strong  hold  on  Brown  Hal,  so  as  to 
steady  him,  then  shook  him  up  and  applied  the  whip 
once  or  twice,  to  which  he  gamely  responded  and 
forged  ahead  of  his  rival  and  won  the  heat  by  a  head. 
While  there  is  no  means  of  knowing  exactly  how  fast 
Brown  Hal  paced  that  heat  from  the  first  quarter,  I 
believe  he  must  have  paced  the  middle  half  of  the 
mile  in  about  one  minute ;  and  thus  ended  what  was, 
everything  considered,  the  most  remarkable  race  in 
which  I  ever  participated.  But  the  great  effort  of 
Brown  Hal  in  his  crippled  condition  put  a  final  veto 
on  his  further  racing  that  season,  and  I  shipped  him 
home,  this  proving  the  last  race  he  ever  paced.  In 
1890  I  again  prepared  him    for  the  campaign  and  he 

57 


seemed  to  be  faster  than  ever.  I  shipped  my  stable, 
including  Brown  Hal,  to  Pittsburg,  and  in  the  work- 
outs I  gave  him  there,  he  went  so  lame  that  I  con- 
cluded it  was  no  use  trying  to  race  him  any  more,  and 
shipped  him  home,  and  he  has  never  been  conditioned 
for  racing  since  then.  He  is  now  owned  by  Captain 
M.  C.  Campbell  of  Spring  Hill,  Tenn.,  where  he  will 
undoubtedly  spend  the  balance  of  his  life.  He  had  all 
the  elements  of  a  great  race  horse,  viz :  speed,  game- 
ness  and  endurance,  and  these  essential  elements  he 
transmits  to  his  get  in  a  remarkable  degree.  Nearly 
twenty  years  ago,  in  a  communication  I  made  to  one 
of  the  turf  journals,  I  prophesied  that  a  horse  would 
go  a  mile  in  harness  in  two  minutes,  and  that  the  first 
horse  to  accomplish  that  feat  would  be  a  pacing  horse 
and  a  member  of  the  Hal  family  ;  and  I  rejoice 
to  know  that  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  see  that 
prophecy  fulfilled,  and  that  the  horse  that  fulfilled  my 
expectations  was  a  distinguished  son  of  Brown  Hal. 


58 


HAL  POINTER  was  foaled  in  1884,  and  was  bred 
by  Captain  Henry  Pointer  of  Spring  Hill,Tenn. 
He  was  sired  by  Old  Tom  Hal  and  his  dam  was 
the  grand  old  mare  Sweepstakes,  by  Knight's  Snow 
Heels,  dam  of  Star  Pointer  1.59^.  As  a  two-  and  three- 
year-old  he  was  used  under  saddle,  and  in  1888  it  was 
claimed  he  could  show  a  2.40  gait  at  the  pace  under 
saddle, —  a  claim  he  could  hardly  justify.  He  is  a  bay 
gelding  with  one  white  ankle  in  front  and  one  behind 
and  has  a  small  star.  When  matured  he  was  a  horse 
of  grand  conformation,  standing  about  15^  hands  high 
and  weighing  about  1,100  pounds  in  ordinary  flesh.  His 
legs  were  large  and  well  shaped,  and  when  in  training 
his  muscles  stood  out  like  those  of  a  trained  athlete. 
His  beautiful  and  intelligent  head  plainly  showed  his 
sixty  or  more  per  cent,  of  thoroughbred  blood  that 
coursed  through  his  veins.  In  June,  1888,  Mr.  Wal- 
ter Steele  of  Columbia,  Tenn.,  purchased  him  and 
placed  him  in  my  stable  to  be  trained.  He  had  then 
been  broken  to  harness,  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  he 
was  very  handy  at  that  way  of  going.  He  had  been 
used  so  much  under  saddle  that  his  gaits  were  very 
badly  mixed.  He  would  pace  a  little  and  single  foot 
a  great  deal.  I  experimented  some  time  with  him 
trying  to  make  him  go  square  and  finally  shod  him 
with  a  twelve-ounce  shoe  in  front  and  added  a  six- 
ounce  toe  weight  to  each  front  foot ;  this  seemed  to 
improve  him,  and  he  would  go  square  in  front ;  but 
still  he  seemed  to  lack  something,  and  to  not  be  en- 
tirely balanced ;  finally,  I  put  on  long  shoes  behind, 
that  is,  shoes  that  projected  an  inch  or  more  beyond 

59 


his  heels,  and  this  balanced  him  and  he  would  pace 
square.  I  worked  with  him  about  a  month  before  I 
went  North  with  my  racing  stable.  The  first  mile  I 
drove  him  it  took  him  three  minutes  and  thirteen 
seconds  to  make  the  circuit,  but  before  I  went  away 
he  showed  me  a  mile  in  2.30.  He  was  then  turned 
out  and  not  taken  up  again  until  about  September  ist. 
During  my  absence  he  was  started  in  a  race  at  the 
Columbia  Fair  in  September,  in  which  he  took  a  record 
of  2.29}^.  When  I  returned  that  fall,  I  commenced 
working  him  again  and  kept  taking  the  weight  off  his 
front  feet  and  he  kept  increasing  his  speed.  I  finally 
got  him  so  he  did  not  require  any  extra  weight,  and 
during  his  races  he  generally  wore  a  five-ounce  shoe  in 
front  and  a  six-ounce  shoe  behind.  Before  I  turned 
him  out  that  fall  he  showed  me  a  mile  over  my  old 
half-mile  track  in  2.17,  and  I  became  satisfied  that  I 
had  a  first-class  race  horse  if  nothing  happened.  His 
hind  legs  always  had  rather  a  curby  look,  and  when 
he  paced  this  good  mile  that  fall  he  developed  a  curb 
on  one  leg  that  caused  me  much  anxiety ;  but  I 
blistered  it  and  turned  him  out  and  he  never  again 
showed  any  signs  of  weakness  in  it.  I  commenced 
work  with  him  early  the  next  spring  and  he  improved 
so  rapidly  that  I  was  more  than  ever  convinced  that 
he  was  one  of  the  coming  turf  sensations  and  I  pur- 
chased a  half  interest  in  him.  I  concluded  to  start 
him  first  in  the  2.30  class  at  Cleveland  that  year,  and, 
as  he  had  never  been  on  a  mile  track,  I  took  him  and 
my  other  horses  there  some  time  before  the  meeting, 
that  he  might  get  used  to  the  track  and  surroundings. 
His  front  feet  were  always  flat  and  of  a  tender  and 
delicate  formation.  The  track  at  Cleveland  was  very 
hard  and  in  the  work  I  gave  him  before  the  meeting 

60 


commenced  his  front  feet  became  sore,  a  condition 
which  continued  during  the  whole  of  that  season.  I 
shod  him  with  bar  shoes  and  pads,  which  greatly  helped 
to  break  the  concussion  ;  but  still  in  jog  work  he 
would  nod,  and  a  stranger  would  think  him  unable  to 
stand  the  hardships  of  a  hotly-contested  race ;  but  as 
soon  as  the  excitement  of  a  race  was  on  he  seemed  to 
forget  all  about  his  tender  feet,  and  his  pace  was  as 
even  and  true  as  any  horse  ever  seen  in  a  race.  I  won 
the  race  at  Cleveland  and  moved  down  through  the 
Grand  Circuit  and  started  him  at  every  meeting ;  and 
after  that  I  went  to  St.  Louis,  Terre  Haute  and  other 
places  and  he  won  every  race  in  which  he  was  started 
that  year,  except  at  Rochester. 

Everything  considered,  Hal  Pointer  was  the  greatest 
race  horse  I  have  ever  driven.  I  always  drove  him 
with  an  open  bridle,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  had  a  little 
experience  he  seemed  to  know  how  to  rate  his  speed 
just  as  well  as  I  did  ;  and  also  that  the  purse  belonged 
to  the  horse  that  first  passed  under  the  wire  rather 
than  the  one  that  reached  the  quarter  or  half-mile  pole 
in  advance  of  the  field,  and  when  in  the  lead  he 
would  watch  the  attempts  of  a  rival  to  pass  him  with 
the  same  degree  of  interest  as  his  driver,  and  was  ever 
on  the  alert  to  prevent  another  horse  from  getting 
dangerously  close.  This  characteristic  was  well  illus- 
trated in  the  race  at  Terre  Haute,  in  the  fall  of  1889, 
in  which  was  the  pacer  B.  B.  who  had  been  defeating 
everything  he  had  met  that  season,  and  many  pre- 
dicted that  when  these  two  horses  met,  Hal  Pointer 
would  taste  the  bitter  pangs  of  defeat.  In  one  of  the 
heats  of  that  race  I  had  passed  B.  B.  in  the  stretch 
and,  expecting  him  to  make  a  rush  near  the  wire,  was 
watching  him  and  so  was  Pointer;  and  after  the  race 

61 


was  over,  the  driver  of  B.  B.  said  he  ''  could  stand  it  to 
have  me  watching  him,  but  when  he  saw  Hal  Pointer 
with  one  ear  laid  down  also  watching  him  he  saw  it 
was  no  use  and  that  he  could  not  steal  a  march  on 
him,  and  so  abandoned  the  attempt."     He  retired  that 
fall  with  a  record  of  2.09^,  which  made  him  a  candi- 
date for  the  free-for-all  class  the  next  season.     A  long 
run  barefooted  that  winter  cured  the  soreness  in  his 
feet  and  he  was  in  good  condition  the  next  spring  to 
commence   his   training.       I    anticipated   a  hard  cam- 
paign for  him  in  1890  and  carefully  prepared  him  for 
it.     I  started  him  first  at  Pittsburg  that  season  and  had 
no  trouble  in  winning  at  that  meeting;   but  at  Cleve- 
land, which  is  regarded  as  the  great  storm  center  of 
the  Grand  Circuit,  I  knew  I  should  meet  a  different 
antagonist  than  I  had  yet  encountered.     Adonis  was 
at  that  time  the  pride  of  California's  race  goers  and, 
with  the  experienced  and  accomplished  Hickok  behind 
him,  he  had  been  campaigning  through  the  minor  cir- 
cuits   without    meeting    defeat,    and     all     horsemen 
expected  that  when  he  and  Pointer  met  there  would 
be  a  battle  royal,  and  those  who  saw  the  race  were  not 
disappointed.     There  were  a  number  of  starters  in  the 
race,  but,  as  expected,  the  contest  for  first  place  was 
between  Pointer  and  Adonis.     In  the  first  heat  Adonis 
led  until  the  last  quarter  was  reached,  when  I,  having 
succeeded  in  passing  the  other  horses,  moved  up  so 
that  as  we  entered  the  stretch  Pointer's  head  was  upon 
the  wheel  of  Adonis,  both  going  true  and  very  fast, 
Pointer   gaining   at    every   stride,    and    when    within 
about  fifty  feet  of  the  wire  he  was  fully  a  neck  in  the 
lead,  without  any  known  cause,  he  left  his  feet  and 
passed  under  the  wire  on  a  run,  thus  giving  the  heat  to 
Adonis  ;    but  this  mishap  made    no  difference  in  the 

62 


outcome  of  the  race,  as  he  won  the  next  three  heats. 
We  had  several  other  contests  during  the  Grand  Cir- 
cuit meetings,  but  Adonis  did  not  succeed  in  winning 
one  of  the  races.  The  defeat  of  Adonis  greatly- 
agitated  the  horsemen  and  sporting  element  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  next  year  they  sent  over  the  fast  and 
almost  unbeaten  Yolo  Maid  to  take  the  measure  of  the 
great  son  of  Tom  Hal.  Our  first  meeting  was  at 
Cleveland,  and  the  known  speed  and  race-horse  quali- 
ties of  these  two  contestants  caused  excitement  to  run 
high.  Yolo  Maid  could  show  a  great  burst  of  speed 
and  was  very  fast  in  getting  away,  and  in  every  case 
would  lead  Pointer  to  the  first  quarter  by  many  yards; 
but  I  never  drove  Hal  Pointer  in  any  race  where  if  he 
could  get  his  nose  to  the  wheel  of  the  sulky  of  the 
other  horse  at  the  head  of  the  stretch  he  could  not 
beat  him  to  the  wire,  and  Yolo  Maid  proved  no  excep- 
tion to  this  rule.  She  would  rush  away  at  a  two- 
minute  gait  for  the  first  quarter,  but  Pointer  saved  his 
fast  rush  for  the  home  stretch  and  in  his  races  often 
paced  the  last  quarter  in  thirty  seconds  ;  and,  like 
Adonis,  Yolo  Maid  returned  to  California  without 
having  won  a  single  race  from  Pointer,  although  she 
attempted  to  do  so  all  through  the  Grand  Circuit. 
But  the  Californians  did  not  give  up.  I  started  Hal 
Pointer  that  season  (1891)  in  July,  and  raced  him  the 
whole  season  over  all  kinds  of  tracks,  some  of  which 
were  very  hard  and  his  feet  became  a  little  tender,  so 
much  so,  that  he  would  not  fully  extend  himself  on  a 
hard  track ;  and  while  in  this  condition,  Direct,  who 
had  been  brought  from  California  early  in  the 
season  and  given  an  easy  campaign,  was  especially- 
prepared  to  try  and  wrest  the  crown  from  Hal  Pointer. 
We  first  met  at  Terre  Haute  in  October,  where,  after 

63 


a  very  hot  contest,  Hal  Pointer  won.  Our  next  meet- 
ing was  at  Nashville,  where  the  track  was  hard,  and 
Direct  won.  We  met  a  few  days  later  at  the  then  new 
kite-shaped  track  at  Columbia,  Tenn.,  and  the  track 
was  so  hard  that  I  could  not  get  Pointer  to  do  himself 
justice,  and  he  again  suffered  defeat ;  but  to  accom- 
plish this  feat,  he  compelled  Direct  to  pace  the  three 
fastest  heats  that  had  up  to  that  time  ever  been  made 
in  harness. 

The  next  season,  when  the  horses  were  more  nearly 
on  an  equality,  in  a  number  of  races  Hal  Pointer 
clearly  demonstrated  his  superiority  as  a  race  horse, 
and  defeated  Direct  every  time  they  met.  I  cam- 
paigned him  during  1893,  1894  and  1895.  In  the  free- 
for-all  pace  at  Philadelphia,  in  1894,  he  was  taken  sick 
during  the  race  with  an  ailment  that  baffled  all  veter- 
inary skill  to  diagnose.  He  had  never  been  sick 
before  and  showed  no  signs  of  illness  until  in  the  race. 
Both  he  and  Yolo  Maid  were  taken  sick  in  the  same 
heat  with  the  same  ailment,  which  gave  rise  to  a  sus- 
picion of  foul  play  on  the  part  of  some  one.  But 
whatever  it  was,  he  never  recovered  from  it.  I  win- 
tered him  with  the  rest  of  the  Hamlin  stable  in  Cali- 
fornia during  the  winter  of  1894  and  1895,  and  started 
him  in  several  races  in  1895  ;  but  he  still  showed  the 
effects  of  that  sickness ;  and  we  gave  up  campaigning 
him.  After  his  race  at  Cleveland,  in  1890,  Mr.  Steele 
and  myself  sold  him  to  Mr.  Harry  Hamlin  of  Village 
Farm  ;  but  he  continued  in  my  stable  until  I  went  to 
Village  Farm  in  1892,  and  was  after  that  in  that  stable 
and  was  driven  by  me  as  long  as  he  continued  to  race 
through  the  Grand  Circuit.  I  do  not  believe  any 
horse  ever  lived  that  possessed  more  racing  sense, 
gameness,  and   endurance  than  did  this  grand  horse. 

64 


I  have  often  seen  him,  after  a  hard-fought  five-heat 
race,  being  cooled  out  when  another  race  would  be 
called  on,  and  he  would  commence  to  get  restless  and 
uneasy  and  show  by  every  action  that  he  wanted  to 
get  back  to  the  track  and  take  a  hand  in  the  excite- 
ment. 

Hal  Pointer  was  a  difficult  horse  to  make  score 
fast,  and  was  always  slow  in  starting  away.  He  did 
not  seem  to  be  imbued  with  the  necessity  of  winning 
the  heat  until  the  middle  or  latter  part  of  the  mile  had 
been  reached,  and  then  he  would  bend  all  his  mighty 
energies  in  an  endeavor  to  first  reach  the  wire,  and 
very  few  horses  were  ever  able  to  withstand  his 
terrific  rush.  He  never  required,  and  would  not 
endure,  punishment.  Once  when  I  was  giving  him  a 
workout  he  did  something  I  did  not  like  and  I  struck 
him  with  the  whip  twice,  and,  in  spite  of  everything  I 
could  do,  he  ran  three  miles  before  I  could  stop  him  ; 
I  never  tried  it  again,  and  in  all  the  races  I  ever  drove 
him  I  never  did  anything  more  than  to  carry  the  whip 
over  him,  and  when  I  wanted  some  extra  speed  I 
would  shake  it  at  him.  I  gave  him  a  record  of  2.04^, 
which  was  the  world's  record  at  that  time. 

It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  many  good  horses  after 
their  days  of  usefulness  are  over,  and  they  are  no  longer 
able  to  earn  money  for  their  owners,  are,  through 
avarice  or  want  of  sympathy,  either  killed  or  compelled 
to  eke  out  a  miserable  existence  doing  drudgery  for 
strangers,  when,  by  reason  of  their  past  services,  they 
should  be  tenderly  cared  for  by  those  whom  they  have 
faithfully  served.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  no  hard- 
ships of  this  kind  are  in  store  for  grand  old  Hal 
Pointer.  I  am  giving  him  just  enough  light  road  work 
for  exercise,  driving  back  and  forth  from  Village  Farm 

65 


to  the  Jewett  covered  track.  I  generally  drive  him 
over  to  the  hotel  at  East  Aurora  and  hitch  him  under 
a  shed  when  I  go  to  lunch.  He  is  very  fond  of  carrots, 
and  I  always  intend  to  put  three  in  my  pocket  and 
feed  him  two  before  I  go  to  lunch  and  the  other  when 
I  am  ready  to  start  back.  If  I  have  the  carrots  for 
him,  he  seems  perfectly  happy  and  will  be  cheerful  all 
the  rest  of  the  day  ;  but  if  I  happen  to  forget  them,  he  is 
mad  and  acts  as  ill-natured  as  does  a  smoker  when  de- 
prived of  his  after-dinner  cigar.  The  following  article, 
clipped  from  the  columns  of  a  recent  number  of  the 
''  Youth's  Companion,"  very  aptly  illustrates  different 
dispositions  respecting  the  fate  of  a  faithful  horse 
after  his  days  of  usefulness  are  over  : 

"  It  was  a  mournful  little  procession  which  filed  out 
of  the  barn  and  took  its  way  along  the  lane  towards 
the  pasture.  First  came  Azariah,  with  the  old  musket. 
Then  followed  Thad,  leading  a  horse,  tall,  gaunt  and 
aged  ;  and  in  the  rear,  with  a  shovel  over  his  shoulder, 
plodded  old  Benjamin  Heminway,  the  owner  of  the 
farm. 

"  No  one  said  anything,  but  all  three  of  the  men 
glanced  furtively  at  the  house,  and  Thad  carefully 
steered  old  Prince  around  some  outcropping  ledges 
where  his  shoes  would  have  been  likely  to  make 
a  noise.  When  they  reached  the  pasture  they 
halted. 

*' '  I  s'pose  we  might's  well  pull  his  shoes  off,'  sug- 
gested Azariah. 

*'  *Yes,'  said  Thad.  '  Three  of  'em's  nearly  new  and 
the  other  ain't  much  worn.  I  brought  the  hammer 
along.' 

"  He  handed  it  to  his  brother,  who  took  it  and  began 
to  pry  off  the  old  horse's  shoes. 

66 


"  While  the  group  was  occupied  with  this  task  a  voice 
broke  in  upon  them.  A  little  old  lady  had  come 
quietly  up  the  lane,  and  now  stood  nervously  twisting 
her  apron  and  regarding  them  with  reproachful  eyes. 
The  men  dropped  the  hammer  and  the  two  shoes  they 
had  removed,  and  stood  silent  and  shamefaced. 

"  *  Father,'  said  the  old  lady,  laying  her  hand  on  her 
husband's  arm,  'you  know  how  I've  felt  about  this  all 
along.  The  more  I  think  of  it  the  wickeder  it  seems. 
I  just  can't  stand  it !' 

*'  *  There,  now,  mother,  don't  take  it  so  hard.  It 
ain't  pleasant,  I  know,  but  what's  a  body  goin'  to  do  ? 
He's  past  any  kind  o'  work,  an'  it  costs  something 
to  keep  him.  Besides,  the  boys  are  all  the  time  com- 
plainin'.' 

'''Well,'  broke  in  Thad,  'we  have  to  cut  up  all  his 
fodder  an'  take  milk  to  him  every  day,  and  he's  for- 
ever getting  into  the  corn-field  or  the  garden.' 

"  '  Thaddy,  it  ain't  what  he  is  now  but  what  he's  been 
that  I'm  thinking  about,'  said  the  boy's  mother. 
'  You  don't  remember,  as  I  do,  how  he  worked  here 
on  the  farm  year  after  year,  an'  how  willin'  and  gentle 
he  always  was.  You  don't  think  of  the  time  when 
your  father  had  the  mail  contract,  and  old  Prince 
traveled  his  forty  miles  a  day,  week  in  and  week  out, 
summer  an'  winter ;  or  the  day  when  the  limb  fell  from 
the  tree  on  the  mountain  road,  and  knocked  your 
father  senseless  in  the  bottom  of  the  sleigh.  How 
long  would  he  have  lived  in  that  cold,  or  where  would 
you  or  any  of  us  be,  if  Prince  hadn't  brought  him  home  ?' 

"  Thad  was  idly  kicking  a  hole  in  the  sod  with  the 
toe  of  his  heavy  boot,  and  Azariah  shifted  the  musket 
uneasily  from  his  shoulder  to  the  ground.  The  old 
lady  went  on  : 

67 


"  'Father,  old  Prince  has  done  his  share  to  help  us  pay 
for  the  farm.  He  wouldn't  owe  us  anything  for  board 
if  he  lived  fiftyyears  longer,  but  if  he's  got  to  be  killed 
because  you  think  we  can't  afford  to  keep  him,  I've 
got  something  to  say.  Here's  eighteen  dollars.  It's 
my  butter  money,  an'  I've  been  savin'  it  to  carpet  the 
parlor  with,  but  never  mind.  It'll  pay  for  Prince's  keep 
while  it  lasts,  and  there'll  be  more  when  that's  gone.' 

"A  crimson  flush  crept  into  the  old  man's  sunburned 
face.  'Stop,  mother,  stop  !' he  said.  'I'm  a  selfish 
brute,  an'  I'm  ashamed  of  myself,  but  I  ain't  so  mean 
as  that !  Old  Prince  has  earned  the  right  to  fodder 
and  good  care  the  rest  of  his  life,  as  you  say,  an'  he 
shall  have  it  if  he  lives  to  be  a  hundred  !  Thad,  Az'- 
riah,  you  go  put  him  into  the  four-acre  clover  lot  ;  an' 
if  either  of  you  ever  pester  me  again  'bout  killin'  him, 
I'll  take  one  o'  them  new  tug  straps  an'  make  you 
dance  livelier'n  Prince  ever  did  when  he  was  a  four- 
year-old.'  " 


68 


CHAPTER    VII. 

STRANGE    INCIDENT    IN    HORSE    TRAINING  — THE    TEN- 
NESSEE    PACING-BRED    PACER. 

I  ONCE  had  a  very  remarkable  incident  in  horse  train- 
ing occur.  A  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Brown, 
living  near  Lynnville,  Tenn.,  owned  the  bay  mare 
Ella  Brown.  About  the  first  of  March,  1890,  he  sent  her 
to  me  to  be  trained.  She  had  the  reputation  of  being 
quite  speedy  and  much  was  expected  of  her.  I  worked 
faithfully  with  her  from  the  time  she  was  first  brought 
to  me  until  about  the  first  of  June,  and  the  best  I 
could  do  with  her  was  to  drive  her  a  mile  in  about 
2.45  ;  and  as  that  was  not  fast  enough  to  compete  with 
horses  she  would  have  to  meet,  I  wrote  Mr.  Brown 
that  I  did  not  think  she  had  speed  enough  to  make  a 
first-class  race  horse,  and  I  would  not  advise  him  to 
spend  any  more  money  on  her,  and  that  he  had 
better  come  and  take  her  home,  and  if  he  would  let  me 
know  when  he  would  come  I  would  save  her  and  work 
her  in  his  presence.  He  notified  me  of  the  time  he 
would  call,  and  at  the  appointed  time  he  came,  and  I  had 
her  hitched  up,  shod,  harnessed  and  hitched  in  exactly 
the  same  way  she  had  always  been  during  the  several 
months  I  had  been  training  her.  After  warming  her 
up  I  commenced  to  show  her  speed  to  Mr.  Brown.  She 
seemed  to  take  in  the  situation  at  once  and  instead  of 
pacing  along  at  a  2.45  gait,  as  she  had  always  done 
before,  she  just  let  herself  out  and  paced  a  quarter  at 
a  2.20  gait  ;  and  when  she  showed  this  burst  of  speed 

69 


I  was  so  astonished  that  I  nearly  fell  out  of  the  sulky, 
and  Mr.  Brown  returned  home  without  her.  I  am  not 
much  of  a  believer  in  telopathy,  but  it  has  always 
seemed  to  me  that  in  some  way  she  knew  that  if  she 
did  not  make  a  satisfactory  showing  that  morning  she 
would  probably  spend  her  life  working  on  the  farm 
instead  of  the  glamor  of  the  race  track.  She  kept 
improving  and  finally  took  a  record  of  2.11^,  and  was 
a  successful  race  mare. 

While  residing  in  Tennessee  I  campaigned  quite  a 
large  number  of  horses,  other  than  those  I  have  men- 
tioned, through  the  Northern  Circuit,  including  Joe 
Rhea,  Annie  W.,  McCurdy's  Hambletonian,  McEwen, 
Bay  Tom,  Joe  Bowers,  Jr.,  Joe  Braden,  Fred  S.  Wilkes, 
Duplex  and  many  others,  and  did  fairly  well  with 
them  ;  but  the  limits  of  this  book  will  not  allow  any 
attempt  at  a  description  of  the  races  in  which  they 
started. 

The  Hal  family  of  pacers  are  preeminently  the 
great  pacing-bred  pacers  of  America.  So  far  as  I 
have  any  knowledge  upon  the  subject,  I  do  not  know 
of  more  than  a  dozen  of  the  get  of  Tom  Hal  that  have 
been  conditioned  and  trained  for  racing,  and  of  this 
number  I  do  not  know  of  one  that  could  not  beat  2.30. 
Of  those  that  were  trained  I  have  already  mentioned 
Little  Brown  Jug,  Brown  Hal  and  Hal  Pointer,  and  I 
firmly  believe  that  if  I  now  had  them  and  they  were 
in  their  prime  and  in  perfect  condition,  I  could  drive 
each  one  of  these  a  mile  in  two  minutes ;  and  it  is 
possible  that  Locomotive  could  be  added  to  this  list, 
but  his  speed  was  not  sufficiently  developed  to  warrant 
me  in  making  the  statement.  Of  the  daughters  of  Old 
Tom  Hal  I  only  know  of  two  that  were  ever  trained. 
One  was  a  roan  mare  called  Sky  Blue,  that  with  a  few 

70 


days'  training  paced  a  mile  on  a  half-mile  track  in 
2.24  ;  and  the  other,  Bessie  Hal,  dam  of  Direct  Hal,  that 
I  trained  a  few  weeks,  and  she  paced  a  mile  in  2.12. 
What  her  ability  would  be  if  fully  developed  I  cannot 
say,  as  an  accident  to  one  of  her  feet  compelled  me  to 
cease  her  training  before  the  measure  of  her  speed  had 
been  ascertained.  How  many  others  of  the  get  of 
Old  Tom  Hal  that  would  have  been  sensational  turf 
performers  had  they  been  trained  and  given  the  oppor- 
tunity the  racing  world  will  never  know,  as  they  spent 
their  lives  at  the  plow  and  doing  the  drudgery  of  the 
farm,  and  their  possible  brilliant  achievements  lie 
buried  beneath  the  dust  that  filled  the  eyes  of  a  prej- 
udiced and  unappreciative  public.  Many  people  not 
familiar  with  the  form  and  beauty  of  the  Tennessee 
pacing-bred  pacer  have  a  wrong  impression  respecting 
the  conformation  and  qualities  of  that  horse.  From 
what  they  have  read,  and  been  educated  to  believe,  the 
pacing-bred  pacer  is  a  horse  carrying  his  head  low, 
with  a  steep  rump,  a  ewe  neck,  crooked  legs,  and 
sleepy-looking  head,  with  no  life  or  ambition  except 
what  is  injected  into  him  by  a  vigorous  application  of 
the  whip  ;  whereas,  the  Tennessee  pacer  is  a  horse  of 
beautiful  form  and  finish,  with  a  head  as  intelligent 
and  showing  as  much  fire  and  ambition  as  that  of  any 
horse  that  ever  looked  through  a  bridle  ;  and  in  all 
the  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  an  ideal  race  or 
driving  horse,  they  compare  favorably  with  those  of 
any  breed  with  which  I  am  familiar. 


71 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

BELLE     HAMLIN  —  DOUBLE  -TEAM     RECORDS  —  GLOBE  — 
HONEST  GEORGE  —  JUSTINA  —  NIGHTINGALE. 

EARLY  in  the  spring  of  1891,  I  made  an  arrange- 
ment with  Messrs.  C.  J.  and  Harry  Hamlin, 
proprietors  of  Village  Farm,  to  drive  their 
stable  of  racing  horses  that  season.  I  shipped  the 
stable  I  had  been  training  in  Tennessee  that  spring 
North  in  July,  and  the  horses  I  was  to  drive  for  the 
Messrs.  Hamlin  were  shipped  to  me  after  I  got  North, 
and,  combined  with  what  I  had,  made  quite  a  large 
stable.  Among  those  I  campaigned  that  year  belong- 
ing to  the  Messrs.  Hamlin  were  the  trotters  Belle 
Hamlin,  Justina,  Globe  and  Nightingale,  and  the 
pacers  Hal  Pointer,  Moonstone  and  Glendennis.  I 
used  Belle  Hamlin  in  double  harness,  giving  exhibi- 
tions at  most  of  the  large  race  meetings.  She  was  a 
very  handsome  bay  mare,  about  15^  hands  high,  very 
smooth  and  stylish,  and  her  impressive  way  of  going 
made  her  a  very  attractive  race  horse.  Her  tempera- 
ment was  pleasant,  and  she  possessed  about  as  many 
of  the  elements  that  go  to  make  an  ideal  driving 
horse  as  is  ever  seen.  Without  any  exception  she  was 
the  best  pole  animal  I  ever  saw.  Her  mouth  was 
neither  too  hard  nor  too  soft.  She  had  plenty  of  life  and 
spirit,  but  was  perfectly  tractable  and  easily  governed, 
and  could  always  be  relied  upon  to  do  her  share  and  a 
little  more  when  driven  with  another  horse.  This 
statement   is    proven    by  the  following  record  :     Her 

72 


own  record  is  2.12^,  yet  hitched  with  Globe,  whose 
record  is  2.14^,  they  trotted  a  mile  in  2.12.  Hitched 
with  Honest  George,  whose  record  is  2.14)^,  they 
trotted  a  mile  in  2.121^.  Hitched  with  Justina,  whose 
record  is  2.20,  they  trotted  a  mile  in  2.13.  Hitched 
with  Globe  and  Justina,  the  three  abreast  trotted  a 
mile  in  2.14.  Speeding  in  double  harness  will  prob- 
ably always  be  more  or  less  popular  with  the  owners 
of  horses,  as  well  as  race  goers  ;  but  one  effort  in  driv- 
ing three  horses  abreast  satisfied  all  the  ambition  I 
had  in  that  direction,  and  I  never  care  to  indulge  in 
any  more  sport  of  that  character. 

I  regard  the  driving  of  Belie  Hamlin,  Justina,  and 
Globe  abreast  a  mile  in  2.14  as  the  greatest  feat  I 
have  ever  accomplished  as  a  reinsman.  No  one  who 
has  not  tried  the  experiment  can  appreciate  the  diffi- 
culty he  will  encounter  before  the  end  of  the  mile  is 
reached.  Any  horse  going  at  that  rate  of  speed  will 
require  the  expenditure  of  much  strength  to  steady 
him,  and  when  three  are  hitched  together  the  amount 
of  this  strength  can  be  multiplied  by  more  than  three, 
because  they  are  racing  with  each  other,  and  the 
ambition  of  each  to  defeat  the  other  two  causes  them 
to  exert  their  utmost  strength,  and  if  one  or  more  of 
them  break,  it  is  impossible  to  steady  and  settle  them. 

When  driving  these  horses  this  trial,  I  was  fortunate 
in  keeping  them  all  on  their  feet,  owing  to  which  they 
were  able  to  make  that  record. 


73 


WHEN  Nightingale  was  placed  in  my  hands,  she 
did  not  promise  to  be  the  great  race  mare  she 
afterwards  became.  Her  gait  was  awkward  and 
rough  and  her  feet  in  bad  shape.  She  had  run  away 
once  or  twice,  which  affected  her  disposition  ;  and  when 
I  commenced  with  her  she  could  not  trot  a  mile  in  2.20, 
and  to  go  anything  like  that  fast  seemed  to  be  a  labored 
effort  for  her.  I  soon  discovered  that  she  was  not 
shod  according  to  my  ideas  of  shoeing,  and  after  I  had 
shod  her  as  I  thought  she  should  be,  she  commenced 
to  improve  in  her  speed  and,  by  kindness  and  patience, 
she  finally  got  over  her  cranky  notions.  She  was 
strong  and  game,  but  her  speed  was  more  the  result  of 
patience  and  education  than  of  a  natural  gift.  I 
started  her  in  a  great  many  races  and  defeated  nearly 
everything  in  her  different  classes.  The  most  impor- 
tant race  in  which  I  started  her,  in  1891,  was  for  a 
$10,000  purse  for  2.20  trotters  at  Hartford,  in  which 
were  Little  Albert,  Abbie  V.  Reilman,  Prodigal,  Miss 
Alice,  and  Frank  F.  As  a  test  of  speed,  gameness 
and  endurance,  this  race  will,  I  think,  go  down  in  turf 
history  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  ever  trotted. 
It  took  nine  heats  to  determine  the  winner,  which  were 
trotted  in  2.17^,2.181^,  2.18,  2.19^,  2. i8>^,  2.21^, 
2.21 14^,  2.21,  and  2.221^.  Nightingale  won  the  sixth, 
eighth  and  ninth  heats  and  trotted  a  dead  heat  with 
Little  Albert  in  the  fourth  heat.  Her  best  race  in 
1892  was  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  in  the  2.13  class.  In 
that  race  she  defeated  Little  Albert,  Ryland  T. 
Charleston,  and  Lakewood  Prince.  This  was  a  six- 
heat    race,    Nightingale  winning  the    third,  fifth    and 

74 


sixth  heats  In  2.12,  2.14^',  and  2.14.  One  of  her  best 
races  in  1893  was  the  Consolation  Race  at  Buffalo,  for 
a  purse  of  $7,000,  in  which  she  met  and  defeated  the 
black  mare  Nightingale,  the  bay  mare  Alix,  and  the 
bay  gelding  Greenleaf.  It  took  seven  heats  to  decide 
this  contest,  the  time  being  2.121^,  2.12,  2.12^, 
2.13^,  2.141^,  2.141^,  and  2.18,  Nightingale  winning 
the  fourth,  sixth  and  seventh  heats. 

The  stallion  Greenlander  had  justly  acquired  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  speediest,  long-distance 
race  horses  that  had  been  upon  the  turf  for  many 
years,  and  as  Nightingale  was  an  aspirant  for  first 
place  as  a  two-mile  performer,  arrangements  were 
made  to  bring  these  two  contestants  together.  They 
met  at  the  Grand  Circuit  Meeting  at  Buffalo,  August 
9,  1894.  Nightingale  won  the  first  heat  in  2.36;^, 
Greenlander  was  drawn  after  this  heat  and  Nightingale 
won  the  race.  Her  time  in  the  first  heat  of  this  race 
is  the  World's  race  record  for  two  miles,  but  Green- 
lander holds  the  trial  record  for  that  distance. 

At  Fresno,  Cal.,  on  February  i,  1895,  she  defeated 
Azote  and  Klamath  by  winning  the  first,  third  and 
fourth  heats  in  2.14,  2.14,  and  2.13^.  This  race  was 
trotted  in  the  mud,  when  the  track  was  several  seconds 
slow,  and  was  a  severe  test  of  gameness  and  endur- 
ance. She  won  the  2.10  class  at  Fort  Wayne  in  the 
fall  of  1895,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.10^,  2.10,  and  2.10. 
No  race  ever  seemed  too  long  for  her  and  she  would 
trot  the  third,  fourth  or  fifth  heat  with  the  same  ease 
as  the  first.  In  October,  1895,  I  started  her  at  Terre 
Haute  against  Onoqua,  Dandy  Jim,  and  David  B. 
Nightingale  won  the  third,  fourth  and  fifth  heats  in 
2.08,  2.10,  and  2.09^.  She  also  won  the  same  year 
at  Louisville ;  and  at  Lexington,  in  October  of  that 

75 


year,  in  the  2.09  class,  she  defeated  Lockheart, 
David  B.,  and  Lesa  Wilkes,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.11^, 
2.11^,  and  2.121/^.  Before  her  racing  days  were  over 
she  became  one  of  the  most  beautiful-gaited  and  best 
trotting  race  horses  I  have  ever  had  anything  to  do 
with.  I  do  not  think  her  record  was  the  full  measure 
of  her  speed,  as  she  constantly  improved  from  the 
time  I  took  her  until  she  died.  That  she  was  a  mare 
of  great  speed,  gameness  and  endurance  is  evidenced 
by  the  above  record,  and  the  further  fact  that  I  gave 
her  a  three-mile  record  of  6.55^,  which  I  believe  is  the 
world's  record  for  that  distance.  She  was  a  very 
smooth  and  stylish  chestnut  mare,  about  1^%  hands 
high,  and  would  weigh  about  1,050  lbs. 


76 


CHAPTER     IX. 

LEAVING  TENNESSEE  FOR  VILLAGE  FARM  —  NEW  FIELD 
VERY  LARGE  — GET  OF  CHIMES  AND  MAMBRINO 
KING  — FIRST  PNEUMATIC  SULKY  USED  IN  GRAND 
CIRCUIT  — PURCHASE  OF  ROBERT  J.  —  HIS  GREAT 
RACE  WITH  JOE  PATCHEN  —  USING  SHEEP  TO 
DRY   RACE   TRACK  —  RECORD    OF    ROBERT  J. 

DURING  the  season  of  i89i,the  Messrs.  Hamlin 
offered  very  tempting  inducements  for  me  to 
move  to  Buffalo  and  assume  the  management 
of  the  speed  department  of  Village  Farm,  but  I  hesi- 
tated long  before  thinking  favorably  of  the  proposi- 
tion, as  both  my  wife  and  myself  were  deeply  attached 
to  our  home  and  friends  in  Tennessee,  and  to  sever 
our  relations  with  a  people  who  had  always  treated  us 
with  a  kindness  which  we  can  never  forget  was  no  easy 
matter;  but  the  offer  was  so  generous  that  I  could  not 
afford  to  disregard  it,  and  late  in  the  fall  concluded  to 
accept  their  proposition.  As  soon  as  my  friends  in 
Tennessee  became  aware  of  my  intention  they  offered 
all  kinds  of  inducements  for  me  to  remain  in  Tennessee 
and  suggested  objections  of  a  very  discouraging  nature 
to  my  contemplated  action.  Among  them  was  that 
Mr.  C.  J.  Hamlin  was  a  very  exacting  man,  and  one 
that  scarcely  any  one  was  able  to  please  in  handling 
his  horses.  While  my  acquaintance  with  him  at  that 
time  was  very  limited,  I  knew  him  well  enough  to  know 
that  he  was  a  thorough  horseman  and  business  man, 
and  I  did  not  believe  that  I  or  any  one  need  have  any 

77 


trouble  with  him  if  they  did  what  was  right ;  and  so, 
against  the  protests,  but  with  the  good  will,  of  my  Ten- 
nessee friends,  I  moved  to  Buffalo  with  my  family  in 
February,  1892,  under  a  five  years'  contract  with  the 
Messrs.  Hamlin,  and  have  been  here  with  them  ever 
since,  and  during  all  this  time  our  relations  have  been 
most  pleasant  and  agreeable. 

The  new  field  upon  which  I  entered  when  I  came  to 
Village  Farm  is  so  extensive,  the  horses  I  have  trained 
and  the  races  in  which  I  have  driven  are  so  numerous, 
that  I  can  do  nothing  more  than  mention  a  few  of  the 
most  important  horses  and  events  with  which  I  have 
had  to  do.  This  statement  will  be  appreciated  when  it 
is  considered  that  nearly  one  hundred  colts  are  foaled 
at  this  farm  every  year,  which  require  training  when 
old  enough,  and  that  during  the  nine  years  I  have  been 
at  Village  Farm  I  have  driven  on  an  average  in  more 
than  one  hundred  races  each  year.  The  horses  with 
which  I  have  had  most  to  do  since  coming  here  have 
been  the  get  of  Mambrino  King  and  Chimes,  and  they 
are  certainly  two  very  remarkable  families  of  horses. 
Mambrino  King  was  the  king  of  show  horses,  and  his 
get  generally  possess  the  stylish  conformation  of  their 
sire,  and  no  family  of  horses  ever  seen  upon  the  turf 
possess  more  gameness  and  endurance  than  they  do. 
I  consider  the  cross  of  Mambrino  King  and  Chimes  to 
be  the  acme  of  American  trotting-horse  breeding.  I 
am  very  fond  of  the  get  of  Chimes,  especially  those 
out  of  mares  by  Mambrino  King.  They  possess  some 
characteristics  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  which  I  have 
never  known  in  any  other  family  of  horses  I  have 
handled ;  they  nearly  all  amble  when  first  broken, 
and,  unlike  any  other  horses  I  have  ever  seen, 
weighting    them    in    front   does    no    good,    and   will 

7^ 


not  make  them  go  square.  I  generally  shoe  them 
light  and  when  they  commence  to  amble  often  rush 
them  to  a  break,  and  when  settled  from  the  break  they 
will  trot  or  pace  square  and  improve  in  their  speed 
very  rapidly. 

Soon  after  the  bicycle  craze  became  prevalent 
I  commenced  to  ride  a  wheel,  and  soon  became 
satisfied  that  if  the  ball-bearing  pneumatic  tire 
wheel  could  in  some  way  be  made  available  for  the 
sulky  it  would  be  a  great  improvement,  and  I  formu- 
lated a  crude  sort  of  plan  in  my  mind  for  their  adjust- 
ment to  the  high-wheeled  sulky  I  then  used,  but  did 
not  attempt  to  put  my  ideas  into  any  practical  shape. 
There  was  a  gentleman  in  the  East  who  seemed  to 
entertain  the  same  views,  that  had  the  genius  to  gratify 
his  ambition,  and  during  the  Detroit  meeting  of  1892 
he  shipped  one  of  his  contrivances  to  Budd  Doble,  and 
requested  him  to  try  it  in  a  race.  It  consisted  of  a 
pair  of  pneumatic  wheels  adjusted  to  a  high-wheeled 
sulky  frame,  and  made  quite  a  grotesque  appearance 
when  it  first  arrived.  For  some  reason,  Mr.  Doble  did 
not  care  to  gratify  this  gentleman's  desire,  and  for 
several  days  after  its  arrival  the  sulky  stood  unused. 
I  had  in  my  stable  that  season  the  horse  Excellence, 
and  one  day  I  desired  to  work  him  four  pretty  stiff 
heats,  and  hitched  him  to  my  high-wheeled  sulky  and 
drove  him  a  mile,  and  the  time  was  2.23^.  I  then 
told  Mr.  Doble  I  would  like  to  make  the  next  trial  in 
that  new-fangled  contrivance  of  his,  and  he  said  he 
would  be  glad  to  have  me  do  so.  I  hitched  to  it  and 
drove  him  a  mile  in  2.21^.  The  next  mile  I  tried  my 
own  sulky  again  and  the  best  he  could  do  was  2.23^. 
The  next  trial  I  again  hitched  to  the  new  sulky,  and 
he  again  trotted  the  mile  in  2.21^.     This  trial  satisfied 

79 


me  that  a  horse  could  make  faster  time  in  the  new 
sulky  than  the  old.  That  afternoon  I  was  to  start 
Honest  George  in  a  race,  and  borrowed  this  pneumatic 
sulky  for  that  purpose ;  and  when  I  appeared  on  the 
track  with  Honest  George  hitched  to  it,  you  could  hear 
the  spectators  laugh  for  a  block,  and  so  curious  did  it 
appear  to  some  that  their  comments  would  indicate 
they  thought  I  was  the  advance  guard  of  Buffalo  Bill's 
show.  But,  notwithstanding  the  jeers  and  laughter,  I 
won  the  race,  and  this  was  the  first  time  within  my 
knowledge  that  this  modern  invention  that  has  been 
such  an  important  factor  in  revolutionizing  track  records 
was  ever  used  in  a  race  in  the  Grand  Circuit.  The 
next  week  I  had  Honest  George  entered  in  a  race  at 
Cleveland  and  borrowed  this  sulky  again  in  which  to 
make  the  race,  and  again  won  ;  which  I  doubt  if  I 
could  have  done  in  my  own  sulky,  as  Honest  George 
was  a  strong  favorite  and,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  the 
whole  field  was  against  me.  After  this  race,  Mr.  Doble 
became  satisfied  of  the  advantage  of  this  sulky  over 
the  high  wheel  and  commenced  to  use  it  in  his  races, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  they  were  in  quite  general 
use  throughout  the  Grand  Circuit  and  elsewhere. 


So 


IN  a  slow-pacing  race  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  early 
part  of  that  season  in  which  I  started  Glendennis, 
appeared  a  new  horse  to  me.  He  was  a  bay  gelding 
about  fifteen  hands  high,  of  very  smooth  conformation 
except  his  knees,  and  they  were  so  bowed  as  to  give 
him  the  appearance  of  being  badly  knee-sprung,  and  a 
stranger  would  not  think  it  possible  for  those  legs  to 
stand  the  strain  of  a  hard  contested  race.  This  horse 
was  Robert  J.,  that  afterward  became  one  of  the  most 
sensational  and  greatest  turf  performers  ever  known. 
He  was  then  four  years  old  and  this  was  his  first  racing 
season.  He  was  distanced  in  the  race  at  Philadelphia, 
but  won  a  race  in  New  York  a  few  days  later  and  soon 
after  that  at  Albany.  Although  he  did  not  then  have 
a  fast  record  and  had  not  shown  phenomenal  speed,  yet 
there  was  something  about  the  horse  and  his  easy  way 
of  going  that  caused  me  to  like  him  ;  and  at  my  sug- 
gestion, while  we  were  at  Albany,  Mr.  Hamlin  pur- 
chased him  and  also  purchased  his  dam.  As  soon  as  I 
commenced  to  work  him  I  became  satisfied  that  we  had 
a  great  horse  if  those  bow  legs  would  only  stand  the 
hardships  of  fast  racing,  about  which  I  had  serious 
doubts,  and  many  times  after  I  had  given  him  a  stiff 
workout  I  would  sit  and  watch  those  crooked  legs  to 
see  if  I  could  discover  any  trembling  or  signs  of  weak- 
ness in  them  ;  but  I  never  saw  any  indication  that 
they  were  not  as  strong  as  those  of  any  horse  in  my 
stable  ;  and  in  all  the  great  races  in  which  I  afterwards 
drove  him  he  never  weakened,  and  would  stand  the 
strain  of  a  long  race  as  well  as  any  horse  I  ever  drove. 
He  was  a  very  pure-gaited  horse  and  I  generally  shod 

8i 


him  with  a  five-ounce  shoe,  both  in  front  and  behind, 
and  in  his  races  he  required  no  boots  except  to  pro- 
tect his  quarters  and  coronets.  We  got  him  early  in 
the  season  of  1892,  and  I  worked  him  some  before  the 
meetings  commenced  in  the  Grand  Circuit,  and  con- 
cluded he  was  good  enough  to  start  in  the  great  races 
which  are  there  given.  I  first  started  him  at  Detroit 
in  a  slow  class,  which  he  won  in  straight  heats ;  and 
the  next  week  I  started  him  in  the  free-for-all  pace  at 
Cleveland,  which  he  won  without  trouble ;  and  in  the 
different  important  races  in  which  I  started  him  that 
season  he  won  them  all  except  at  Buffalo  and  Lexing- 
ton, where  he  finished  second  in  each  race.  In  1893,  I 
started  him  at  all  the  important  meetings  and  do  not 
remember  of  his  losing  a  single  race.  I  started  him, 
in  1894,  against  the  fastest  pacers  then  upon  the  turf, 
including  John  R.  Gentry  and  Joe  Patchen,  and  de- 
feated them  in  many  contests.  John  R.  Gentry  never 
defeated  him,  and  Joe  Patchen  never  defeated  him  but 
three  times  in  all  their  numerous  contests.  I  won  so 
many  good  races  with  him  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  in 
which  race  or  races  he  most  distinguished  himself ;  but 
I  think  his  best  race  was  the  special  at  Indianapolis, 
against  Joe  Patchen.  Robert  J.  was  then  six  years  old 
and  at  his  very  best.  The  track  was  good  and  the  day 
favorable  for  fast  time.  The  friends  of  the  respective 
horses  were  many,  and  all  the  elements  conspired  to 
make  it  a  most  exciting  and  interesting  contest,  and 
such  it  proved  to  be.  Robert  J.  won  the  race,  in  three 
straight  heats,  in  the  phenomenal  time  of  2.03^,  2.02}^, 
and  2.04^,  and  his  time  in  the  second  heat  of  that 
race  was  the  world's  greatest  race  record.  I  gave  him 
a  record  that  season  of  2.01^,  which  was  the  world's 
harness  record.     After  the  racing  season  of  1894  was 

82 


over  I  concluded  to  ship  my  racing  stable  to  California, 
and  try  the  experiment  of  wintering  in  that  far-away 
southern  climate.  Robert  J.  was  one  of  those  I  took 
along.  The  owner  and  driver  of  Joe  Patchen  were  not 
satisfied  with  the  results  of  the  different  meetings 
between  Robert  J.  and  that  horse,  and  when  they 
found  I  was  to  take  Robert  J.  to  California  they 
shipped  Joe  Patchen  there  to  continue  the  turf  con- 
tests. We  first  met  in  California  at  Los  Angeles, 
where  Robert  J.  again  defeated  the  fast  son  of  Patchen 
Wilkes.  In  February,  1895,  a  special  race  was  arranged 
for  these  two  horses  at  Fresno,  California.  The  date 
set  for  this  race  happened  to  be  in  the  rainy  season 
which  every  winter  visits  the  just  and  the  unjust  of 
that  State.  When  the  day  of  the  race  came  it  simply 
poured,  and  the  mud  on  the  track  and  everywhere  else 
was  ankle  deep,  so  the  race  was  postponed  from  day 
to  day,  and  the  rain  continued  to  come  down  in  such 
torrents  as  to  dampen  our  spirits  as  well  as  the  track. 
Of  course,  we  were  familiar  with  the  usual  appliances 
used  in  drying  tracks,  but  they  were  of  no  use  in  face 
of  such  a  deluge  as  we  were  then  experiencing. 
Among  the  horsemen  who  were  there  were  Monroe 
Salisbury,  Andy  McDowell,  Tom  Raymond,  Jack 
Curry  (driver  of  Joe  Patchen),  and  myself.  As  we 
were  confronted  with  an  unusual  condition,  unusual 
methods  must  be  employed  to  accomplish  our  purpose, 
so  we  arranged  for  the  use  of  2,300  sheep  owned  near 
there,  and  every  day  the  gentlemen  mentioned,  includ- 
ing myself,  would  gather  these  sheep  together  and 
drive  them  several  times  over  the  track,  and  by  night 
the  track  would  be  in  fairly  good  condition,  but  it 
would  rain  again  in  the  night,  and  the  next  day  the 
mud  would  be  as  deep  as  ever;  then  the  sheep  would 

83 


be  brought  out  again  and  raced  over  the  track.  We 
continued  this  process  for  so  long  a  period  that  I 
became  thoroughly  tired  of  training  and  racing  sheep. 
The  condition  of  affairs  gave  me  no  peace  in  the  day 
time  and  at  night  I  would  dream  of  bleating  sheep, 
and  at  breakfast  imagined  I  could  taste  wool  in  the 
doughnuts,  and  I  scarcely  dared  venture  on  the  streets 
for  fear  of  meeting  an  old  ram  with  a  wicked  look  on 
his  sobercountenance,as  though  hewaslookingfor  some 
one  upon  whom  to  wreak  his  vengeance  for  disturbing 
his  peaceful  flock.  Finally,  one  evening,  we  agreed  to 
have  the  race  the  next  day,  however  muddy  the  track 
might  be ;  and  when  the  race  was  called  the  track  re- 
sembled a  mortar  bed  more  than  a  race  track,  and 
every  time  a  horse  would  pull  one  of  his  feet  from 
the  mud  it  would  sound  like  the  good-night  parting 
of  a  young  man  and  his  best  girl.  The  mud  flying  in 
all  directions  subjected  both  drivers  and  horses  to  a 
genuine  mud  bath,  and  made  Robert  J.  nervous,  and 
he  broke  in  the  last  two  heats,  and  Joe  Patchen  won 
the  race. 

After  the  race  was  over  I  returned  to  the  stall  of 
Robert  J.  and  endeavored  to  separate  myself  from  a 
portion  of  the  real  estate  of  Fresno,  which  covered  me 
so  completely  that  I  resembled  a  clay  model  of  an 
artist.  John  Easely,  the  colored  groom  who  cared  for 
Robert  J.,  fairly  worshiped  the  little  horse,  and  took 
his  defeat  very  much  to  heart.  He  said  to  me  as  I 
entered  the  stall :  ''  Look  dar,  boss,  no  wonder  dis  hoss 
couldn't  win  dat  race,"  and  looking  up  over  the  door 
of  the  stall  where  John's  finger  pointed,  I  saw  the 
ominous  figure  13,  and  John  continued:  "Dat  is  the 
hoodoo  what  caused  us  to  lose,  and  no  hoss  can  eber 
win  a  race  hitched  in  dis  stall;  and  old  Joe  Patchen 

84 


never  could  beat  Robert  no  how,  if  dis  little  boss  has 
a  fair  show,"  and,  thinking  of  the  combined  misfor- 
tunes of  the  mud  and  hoodoo,  John  refused  to  be 
comforted.  I  won  the  free-for-all  trot  the  same  day 
with  Nightingale,  which  in  part  compensated  for  the 
defeat  of  Robert.  I  drove  him  in  many  races  after 
this,  and  he  won  nearly  all  of  those  in  which  he  started. 
He  combined  the  elements  of  extreme  speed,  game- 
ness,  endurance,  and  gentleness  in  a  degree  second  to 
no  horse  I  ever  saw. 

The  records  show  Robert  J.  has  paced  in  races,  one 
heat  in  2.02^,  one  in  2.02^,  two  in  2.03^,  one  in 
2.03^,  one  in  2.04,  two  in  2.04^,  two  in  2.04^,  two 
in  2.05,  three  in  2.05^,  three  in  2.05^,  four  in  2.05^, 
four  in  2.06,  one  in  2.06%,  four  in  2.06^,  three  in 
2.07^,  five  in  2.08,  one  in  2.08^,  three  in  2.08^, 
two  in  2.08^,  one  in  2.09,  one  in  2.09j{,  one  in 
2.ogj4,  three  in  2.09^,  and  one  in  2.10.  Against  time 
he  has  paced  one  mile  in  2.01}^,  one  in  2.02,  one  in 
2.02^,  one  in  2.03,  one  in  2.03^,  two  in  2.04,  one 
in  2.04%^,  one  in  2.04^,  one  in  2.06,  one  in  2.06^, 
three  in  2.07,  and  one  in  2.10.  The  sum  of  the  above 
is  6y  heats  in  2.10  or  better,  eleven  of  which  were 
paced  in  2.04  or  better;  which  were,  at  the  time  he 
retired  from  the  turf,  five  times  more  than  had  been 
paced  within  the  2.04  circle  by  all  the  other  pacers 
that  ever  wore  harness. 


85 


CHAPTER    X. 

SOME  VILLAGE  FARM  RECORD  BREAKERS —  FANTASY — 
BRIGHT  REGENT  — THE  MONK —  HEIR -AT- LAW  — 
AMERICAN  BELLE  — MILAN  CHIMES  — LADY  OF  THE 
MANOR  — LORD  DERBY  — DARE  DEVIL  — THE  AB- 
BOTT. 

F^ANTASY,  the  great  daughter  of  Chimes  and 
Homora,  by  Almonarch,  foaled  March  7,  1890, 
was  one  of  the  first  of  the  get  of  that  sire  that 
was  trained  by  me.  She  was  broken  and  worked  some 
as  a  two-year-old  and  could  trot  fast  from  the  begin- 
ning of  her  development.  She  made  her  debut  as  a 
three-year-old  at  a  time  when  others  of  her  age  of 
superior  quality  were  numerous  in  different  parts  of 
the  country.  Her  first  start  was  at  Pittsburg,  in  July, 
1893,  in  the  2.27  class  for  three-year-olds.  She  won 
the  last  three  heats  of  this  five-heat  race  and  took  a 
record  of  2.18^.  Among  the  fast  and  sensational 
three-year-olds  out  that  year,  were  William  Penn, 
Silicon,  Margrave,  Wistful,  Elfrida,  and  The  Con- 
queror. At  Buffalo,  on  August  8th,  she  started 
against  Margrave,  William  Penn,  and  Silicon,  and  won, 
in  straight  heats,  in  2.15^,  2.15^,  and  2.15.  At  Evans- 
ville,  Indiana,  the  same  year,  she  defeated  The  Con- 
queror, Elfrida,  and  Wistful,  in  straight  heats,  in  a 
three-heat  race,  in  2.18^  and  2.21^.  At  Nashville, 
October  7th,  she  defeated  a  field  of  ten  three-year- 
olds,  in  straight  heats,  in  a  three-heat  race,  in  2.i6}4 
and  2.08^.     Her  record  in  the  second  heat  of  this  race 

86 


is  the  world's  race  record  for  three-year-olds.  She  also 
won  in  straight  heats  at  Detroit,  Rochester  and 
Chicago,  making  a  record  for  her  first  season's  cam- 
paign of  winning  every  race  in  which  she  started  and 
all,  with  one  exception,  in  straight  heats.  She 
made  several  successful  starts  in  1894,  and  took  a 
record  at  Terre  Haute  in  September  of  that  year  of 
2.06,  which  is  the  world's  record  for  mares  of  that  age. 
I  took  her  with  some  of  the  other  horses  I  had  in 
training  to  California  in  the  fall  of  1894,  where  she 
wintered.  Her  first  race  in  1895  was  the  free-for-all 
at  Minneapolis,  July  3d,  where  she  met  and  defeated 
Directum,  David  B.,  and  Kentucky  Union,  three  race 
horses  of  the  highest  quality.  This  was  a  great  race 
and  was  desperately  contested  from  start  to  finish. 
Directum,  by  reason  of  his  almost  unbeaten  record, 
was  looked  upon  by  the  public  as  the  probable 
winner  ;  while  the  reputation  of  David  B.  and  Ken- 
tucky Union  was  scarcely  second  to  anything  then  in 
training.  Fantasy,  while  a  nervous,  high-strung  mare, 
was  level  headed,  and  up  to  the  time  of  this  race  had 
never  made  a  break  in  all  the  races  I  had  driven 
her;  but  on  the  Minneapolis  track  was  a  roadway 
across  the  track,  used  by  carriages  in  crossing  to  and 
from  the  inside  enclosure  of  the  track,  and  when  she 
came  to  that  crossing,  in  the  second,  fourth  and  fifth 
heats,  she  jumped  and  left  her  feet,  and  these  were  the 
only  times  during  her  life  that  she  ever  broke  in  a  race. 
Fantasy  won  the  first  heat  in  2.09,  Directum  the 
second  in  2.12^,  Fantasy  the  third  in  2.09,  Directum 
the  fourth  in  2.13^^,  and  Fantasy  the  fifth  in  2.11^. 
From  Minneapolis  I  went  to  LaCrosse,  Wisconsin, 
where  I  started  her  in  the  free-for-all  against  the  great 
race  horses  Azote  and  Phoebe  Wilkes,  and  here  it  was 

87 


that  the  first  defeat  of  her  life  was  recorded.  Azote 
won  the   race  in  straight  heats  in  2.07}^,  2.12;^  and 

2.09,  Fantasy  finishing  second  in  each  heat.  She  was 
a  great  mare  in  1896.  In  the  free-for-all  at  Columbus 
she  defeated  Beuzetta,  Onoqua,  and  Lord  Clinton,  in 
straight  heats,  in  2.06^,  2.08,  and  2.09^.  In  the 
free-for-all  at  New  York  she  vanquished  a  great  field, 
consisting  of  William  Penn,  Kentucky  Union,  Onoqua, 
and  Beuzetta,   in    straight    heats,  in  2.og}4,  2.08,  and 

2.10.  At  Medford,  Massachusetts,  she  made  short 
work  of  William  Penn,  Onoqua,  and  Kentucky  Union, 
by  winning,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.1 1,  2.10,  and  2.10^. 
Perhaps  the  greatest  race  of  her  life  was  at  Readville, 
August  27th  of  that  year,  where  in  the  free-for-all  she 
met  her  great  rivals  Kentucky  Union,  Onoqua,  Beu- 
zetta, and  William  Penn.  This  was  at  that  time  the 
fastest  four-heat  race  on  record.  Fantasy  won  the 
first  and  second  heats  in  2.09  and  2.o8j^  ;  Kentucky 
Union  won  the  third  in  2.073^  ;  and  Fantasy  ended  the 
agony  by  winning  the  fourth  in  2.08.  This  was  her 
last  racing  season,  as  while  being  jogged  on  the  road 
at  Selma,  Ala.,  in  the  spring  of  1897,  she  met  with  an 
accident  of  so  serious  a  nature  that  she  could  never  be 
trained  again  ;  and  thus  passed  from  the  race  track  one 
of  the  greatest  performers  known  in  all  its  annals. 
Fantasy  is  a  very  rangy,  racy-looking  mare,  about  six- 
teen hands  high,  and  in  ordinary  flesh  will  weigh 
about  1,150  pounds. 


88 


ONE  of  the  best  and  fastest  natural-gaited  pacers 
I  ever  campaigned  was  the  chestnut  gelding 
Bright  Regent.  When  I  commenced  with  him 
as  a  three-year-old  he  was  a  cripple,  but  I  nursed  his 
ailing  legs  that  fall  and  winter,  and  the  next  season(i895) 
thought  him  strong  enough  to  race.  I  started  him  first 
at  Minneapolis  in  the  2.23  class,  which  he  won  in  straight 
heats  and  took  a  record  of  2aS%.  I  also  started  him 
at  La  Crosse,  Saginaw,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Buffalo, 
Rochester,  New  York,  Louisville  and  Terre  Haute, 
and  won  every  race  in  which  he  started,  and  all  in 
straight  heats,  except  at  Saginaw  and  Detroit ;  and  at 
Louisville  he  took  a  race  record  of  2.085^,  which  I 
considered  was  doing  pretty  well  for  a  green  four-year- 
old  in  a  partially  crippled  condition.  His  legs  bothered 
him  more  or  less  all  the  time,  and  it  required  constant 
care  and  attention  to  keep  him  strong  enough  to  stand 
the  strain.  His  legs  were  not  very  strong  in  1896,  and 
I  feared  he  would  be  unable  to  make  much  of  a  cam- 
paign that  year,  and  only  started  him  twice  during  that 
season.  The  first  was  at  Detroit,  in  July,  in  the  2.09 
class,  in  which  he  won  the  first  two  heats  in  2.oS}4 
and  2.09)^  ;  but  his  legs  weakened  and  he  lost  the 
race.  I  then  gave  him  a  long  rest,  and  did  not  start 
him  again  until  the  Lexington  meeting  in  the  fall, 
where  he  won  the  2.09  class,  in  straight  heats,  in 
2.06^,  2.o6j^,  and  2.07 J^  ;  and  this,  I  think,  was  his 
best  race.  In  1897,  I  started  him  in  three  races  in 
which  he  met  defeat  in  each  race,  viz  :  Glens  Falls, 
Readville,  and  Portland  ;  but  at  Portland  he  won  the 
third  and  fourth  heats,  and  took  a  record  in  the  third 

89 


heat  of  2.061^,  which  is  his  record.  After  that  race 
his  legs  were  so  bad  that  I  regretfully  gave  up  training 
and  racing  him. 


90 


ONE  of  the  bright  stars  of  the  Village  Farm  pro- 
duction is  The  Monk,  a  bay  gelding,  foaled  in 
1893,  sired  by  Chimes,  dam  Goldfinch  by  Mam- 
brino  King.  This  horse  is  the  same  age  and  bred  in  the 
same  lines  as  The  Abbott,  and  at  the  time  he  met  with 
the  accident  hereinafter  mentioned  was  a  faster  horse 
than  the  now  world's  champion.  He  was  taken  up  when 
three  years  old,  while  I  was  away,  and  his  speed  at- 
tempted to  be  developed ;  but  when  I  returned  in 
the  fall  he  could  not  trot  a  three-minute  gait,  and 
was  as  awkward  and  clumsy  as  any  three-year-old  I 
ever  saw.  They  had  him  shod  with  about  sixteen- 
ounce  shoes  in  front,  and  he  simply  would  not,  or 
could  not,  show  any  speed  to  speak  of.  I  had  those 
heavy  shoes  taken  off  and  shod  him  with  eight-ounce 
shoes  in  front  and  added  a  light  toe  weight,  and 
after  he  was  thus  shod  he  would  shuffle  and  mix 
his  gaits  for  a  little  way,  then  strike  a  square  trot 
and  go  a  few  feet,  then  commence  to  shuffle  again ; 
but  every  time  I  drove  him  he  would  trot  more  and 
more,  until  finally  he  quit  shuffling  and  would  trot 
square,  and  after  I  got  his  gait  straightened  out  he 
could  trot  fast.  I  first  started  him  at  Detroit  in  July, 
1898,  when  he  was  four  years  old,  in  the  2.27  class, 
which  he  won  in  straight  heats,  the  best  time  being 
2.16^.  I  also  started  him  at  Cleveland,  Columbus, 
Fort  Wayne,  Glens  Falls,  Readville,  New  York,  Hart- 
ford, Portland,  Louisville,  in  the  2.20  and  2.30  classes, 
and  at  Lexington  in  the  Transylvania  Stake  and  the 
2.17  class.  He  was  first  in  every  race  in  which  he 
started,  except  at  Fort  Wayne,  Readville,  and  in  the 

91 


Transylvania  Stake,  in  which  races  he  finished  second 
and  won  two  heats  in  each  of  these  races.  He  won 
the  first  two  heats  in  the  Transylvania  Stake  in  2.09^ 
and  2.08^,  but  was  defeated  by  Rilma  the  next 
three  heats.  This  was  his  first  and  last  campaign, 
as  an  accident  to  one  of  his  forelegs  has  rendered  it 
impossible  up  to  this  time  to  train  him  again  ;  but 
with  the  long  rest  he  has  now  had,  I  hope  and  be- 
lieve he  will  again  be  able  to  stand  the  hardships 
of  campaigning;  and  if  he  does,  he  will,  I  think,  be 
one  of  the  best  horses  in  his  class.  From  what  I 
have  said  it  will  be  seen  that  he  started  in  thirteen 
races,  in  which  he  was  first  in  eleven  and  second  in 
two.  What  he  would  have  been,  except  for  this  ac- 
cident, when  fully  matured,  is  largely  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  but  my  belief  is  that  he  would  have  been 
in  the  front  ranks  of  the  greatest  of  turf  performers. 


92 


TH  E  black  stallion  Heir-at-Law,  sired  by  Mambrino 
King,  dam  Estabella  by  Alcantara,  and  foaled 
May  20,  1888,  I  first  started  in  a  race  as  a  trotter 
in  1 894,  and  during  that  season  he  started  at  Chicago,  In- 
dianapolis, Rochester,  Terre  Haute,  Fort  Wayne,  Lex- 
ington, and  Nashville.  He  took  his  first  record  at  In- 
dianapolis, where  he  won  the  second  heat  in  2.14^. 
His  best  trotting  race  was  at  Nashville,  in  the  2.21  class, 
which  he  won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.i3i<(,  2.14,  and 
2.12.  This  was  the  only  season  in  which  he  ever  trot- 
ted, as  my  work  with  him  that  season  convinced  me 
that  he  could  pace  much  faster  than  he  could  trot, 
and  his  subsequent  record  shows  the  correctness  of 
that  conclusion.  He  was  in  the  stud  in  1895,  and 
not  started  at  all.  His  early  work  in  the  season  of 
1896  gave  evidence  of  a  first-class  pacing  race  horse 
at  no  distant  day.  I  first  started  him  in  a  pacing 
race  at  Peoria,  111.,  July  i,  1896,  in  the  2.40  class,  in 
which  he  won  two  heats  and  took  a  record  of  2.13. 
I  also  started  him  that  season  at  Saginaw,  Detroit, 
Cleveland,  Buffalo,  Fort  Wayne,  Providence,  Med- 
ford,  Mass.,  Portland,  and  Lexington.  His  record 
when  the  season  was  finished  was  six  times  first,  three 
times  second,  and  unplaced  once.  In  1897  I  started 
him  at  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Fort  Wayne,  Glens 
Falls,  Providence,  New  York,  Portland,  Louisville, 
and  Lexington.  At  Lexington  I  gave  him  a  race 
record  of  2.05  J^.  This  was  his  last  racing  season,  as 
when  running  in  the  paddock  the  next  year  he  acci- 
dentally broke  one  of  his  forelegs,  and,  of  course,  his 
racing  days  were  over.     Heir-at-Law  is  a  very  rugged, 

93 


strong  horse,  and  was  a  very  speedy,  game  and  reli- 
able race  horse,  and  his  records  of  2.0554!  pacing,  and 
2.12  trotting,  are,  I  think,  the  world's  race  records  for 
one  horse  at  the  two  gaits. 


94 


THE  bay  filly  American  Belle  was  a  very  success- 
ful three-year-old  campaigner.  I  first  started  her 
at  Readville  in  the  2.30  class  for  three-year-olds, 
and  she  finished  third  in  a  great  field.  A  few  days  later 
I  started  her  at  New  York  in  the  2.40  class,  where  she 
finished  ahead  of  a  large  field,  but  was  beaten  for  first 
place  by  Cresceus,  the  present  champion  stallion.  These 
two  races  did  her  much  good,  and  she  kept  improving 
very  rapidly.  Her  first  winning  race  was  at  Hartford 
in  the  2.40  class  for  three-year-olds,  which  she  won,  in 
straight  heats,  in  2.17)^,  2.14^,  and  2.19^.  She  also 
won  in  straight  heats  at  Portland,  Louisville,  Lexing- 
ton, and  in  the  fall  meeting  at  Readville.  At  Port- 
land she  won  the  second,  third  and  fourth  heats  in 
2.i2j^,  2.14^,  and  2.16.  Cresceus  winning  the  first 
heat  in  2.12.  Thus  in  the  only  eight  races  I  ever  started 
her  she  was  first  in  six,  second  in  one,  and  third  in 
one,  and  took  a  record  of  2.12^  in  the  third  heat  of 
a  race,  a  record  that  few  three-year-olds  have  ever 
equaled. 


95 


A  COLT  that  gave  promise  of  becoming  one  of  the 
best  ever  produced  at  Village  Farm  was  Milan 
Chimes.  He  was  broken  as  a  two-year-old,  and  in 
the  fall,  when  three  years  old,  I  took  him  with  the  pros- 
pective campaigners  for  the  next  year  (1898)  to  Selma, 
Ala.,  and  from  the  time  I  first  commenced  to  work  him 
he  was  a  pure-gaited  and  very  fast  trotter.  I  never  tried 
to  drive  him  to  his  limit,  and  have  no  means  of  telling 
what  it  was.  His  first  and  only  race  was  at  Hartford, 
on  July  5,  1898,  in  the  2.20  class.  He  won  the  second 
heat  in  2.13^  in  a  jog,  and  could  have  trotted  that 
heat  several  seconds  faster.  He  was  unsteady  in  the 
third  heat  and  lost  it,  but  won  the  fourth  in  2.165^. 
He  was  leading  in  the  fifth  heat  and  when  coming 
down  the  home  stretch,  without  any  warning  or  known 
cause,  he  fell  and  died  almost  instantly ;  and  by  his 
death  I  think  the  turf  was  robbed  of  one  of  its  bright- 
est ornaments. 


96 


o 

o 

< 

M 

X 
H 

o 

Q 


LADY  of  the  Manor,  holder  of  the  world's  pacing 
J  record  for  mares,  was  foaled  May  31,  1894,  sired 
by  Mambrino  King,  dam  Princess  Chimes  by 
Chimes.  She  was  worked  some  as  a  three-year-old,  and 
soon  gave  evidence  of  possessing  great  speed.  I  first 
started  her  in  the  2.24  class  at  the  Detroit  meeting,  in 
1898,  where  she  won  the  first  heat  in  2.09 J^,  but  had  to 
be  satisfied  with  third  place  in  the  race.  Her  first  win- 
ning race  was  at  Cleveland,  where  she  won  the  third, 
fourth  and  fifth  heats  in  2.15^,  2.10^,  and  2.1 1.  She 
also  won  at  Hartford,  Columbus,  Fort  Wayne,  Glens 
Falls,  Fort  Erie,  Portland,  Readville,  and  two  races  at 
Lexington. 

At  Lexington  she  took  a  race  record  of  2.08^.  She 
also  started  at  Louisville,  but  was  unplaced.  From 
the  above  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  in  her  first 
racing  season  as  a  four-year-old  she  was  first  in  ten 
races,  third  in  one,  and  unplaced  in  one.  Her  record 
of  2.08^  advanced  her  to  a  very  fast  class  in  1899,  but 
she  was  first  in  three  out  of  the  six  starts  she  made 
that  season,  and  they  were  all  great  races.  Her  first 
winning  race  that  season  was  at  Glens  Falls,  where 
she  won  the  second,  third,  and  fifth  heats  in  2.04^, 
2.1114^,  and  2.08^.  She  won  at  Hartford,  in  straight 
heats,  in  2.06 j4,  2.05^,  and  2.08^.  At  Readville  she 
won  the  first  and  third  heats,  in  a  three-heat  race,  in 
2.05  5i  and  2.07^.  I  never  saw  a  horse  that  possessed 
more  speed  than  did  this  mare.  She  had  shown  me  a 
half  mile  in  one  minute,  and  I  firmly  believe  that  she 
would  have  made  a  record  of  two  minutes  or  better 
had  she  remained  on  the  turf  a  season  or  two  longer  ; 

97 


but  in  the  fall  of  1899,  while  being  worked  on  the 
track  at  Louisville,  she  met  with  so  serious  an  accident 
that  she  could  never  be  trained  again ;  and  when  she 
retired,  another  star  of  the  first  magnitude  set  before 
it  had  reached  its  zenith. 


98 


DEXTER  was  undoubtedly  the  greatest  trotting 
horse  the  world  ever  saw  up  to  the  time  of  his 
retirement.  He  was  foaled  in  1858,  and  was  first 
trained  for  racing  as  a  five-year-old  in  1863.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1864,  when  he  was  six  years  old,  and  after  he  had 
been  trained,  and  raced  the  whole  season,  by  Mr.  Hiram 
Woodruff,  the  greatest  trainer  and  driver  of  his  day,  he 
trotted  a  trial  mile  driven  by  Mr.  Woodruff,  and  his  time 
was  2.2314^,  which  was  the  fastest  mile  he  had  up  to 
that  time  ever  trotted,  and  in  speaking  of  this  trial 
Mr.  Woodruff  says  :  "  Mr.  Shepard  F.  Knapp  and  Mr. 
Alley  were  present  and  they  timed  him.  I  knew  all 
the  way  round  that  Dexter  was  doing  a  great  thing. 
I  had  hardly  ever  then,  if  ever,  except  in  the  cases  of 
Flora  Temple  and  the  gray  mare  Peerless,  that 
belonged  to  Mr.  Bonner,  seen  such  a  stroke  kept  up 
from  end  to  end.  When  I  turned  and  came  back  I 
lifted  up  my  hand  and  said  to  the  gentlemen, '  Oh,  what 
a  horse  !*  '  What  do  you  think  you  made,'  said  they. 
'  Not  worse  than  2.24,'  I  answered.  '  It  was  just  2.235^,' 
they  said,  and  I  was  satisfied.  This  was  speed  enough 
for  a  six-year-old  horse  in  his  first  season  of  trotting." 
I  mention  this  incident,  not  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
paraging the  merits  of  Dexter  but  for  the  purpose  of 
calling  attention  to  the  mighty  strides  that  have  been 
made  since  that  time,  both  in  breeding  the  harness  race 
horse  and  the  appliances  for  his  speed  development. 

Lord  Derby  was  foaled  May  26,  1895,  sired  by  Mam- 
brino  King,  dam  Claribel  by  Almont,  Jr.  He  is  a  dark 
bay  gelding  with  some  white  markings  on  his  feet, 
15^  hands  high,  and  will  weigh  about  1,000  pounds. 
In  conformation.  Lord  Derby  resembles  a  thorough- 

99 


bred  more  than  any  trotter  I  ever  handled.  He  is 
slim  and  rather  delicate  in  appearance,  but  in  the  races 
he  has  trotted  he  has  exhibited  as  much  stamina  as  any 
race  horse  need  have.  I  first  commenced  to  work  him 
in  the  fall  of  1899,  when  he  was  four  years  old,  and  he 
did  not  then  give  promise  of  such  extreme  speed  as 
he  has  developed.  That  fall  he  could  not  trot  a  half 
mile  better  than  i.io,  but  his  gait  was  beautiful  and  in 
the  work  I  gave  him  he  improved  very  fast.  I  started 
him  at  different  places  in  the  Grand  Circuit  in  1900, 
among  them  being  at  Lexington  in  the  Translyvania 
Stake,  which  I  think  he  would  have  had  a  fair  chance  of 
winning  but  for  an  accident  which  occurred  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  first  heat ;  the  field  was  quite  large  and 
just  in  front  of  Lord  Derby  two  sulkies  collided  and 
threw  the  drivers  out,  and  to  avoid  the  mix-up  I  had  to 
bring  him  to  a  complete  stop,  and  thereby  came  very 
near  being  distanced,  and  to  get  inside  the  flag  he  was 
compelled  to  trot  the  last  three-quarters  of  the  mile  at 
such  a  terrific  gait  that  he  was  unable  to  do  himself 
justice  in  the  next  heats.  I  think  he  trotted  the 
middle  half  of  that  heat  in  1.02.  His  best  race  was  at 
New  York,  which  he  won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.07, 
2.07,  and  2.08.  This  horse  is  now  in  perfect  condition 
and  what  he  may  accomplish  in  the  future  I  hardly 
dare  hazard  an  opinion.  That  he  is  a  great  horse 
there  can  be  no  question.  Whether  he  will  be  the 
greatest  time  alone  can  disclose.  But  measured  by 
the  records  of  one  season's  racing,  he  is  the  greatest 
trotting  race  horse  I  have  ever  driven  ;  and  if  Hiram 
Woodruff  were  now  living  and  compared  his  race 
record  of  2.07  as  a  five-year-old  with  the  trial  mile  of 
Dexter  in  2.231^  as  a  six-year-old,  is  it  not  probable 
that  he  would  again  exclaim,  **  Oh,  what  a  horse !" 

100 


On 
O 


MR.  C.  J.  HAMLIN  says  that  when  he  was  a 
young  man  he  used  to  attend  dancing  parties, 
and  was  very  fond  of  dancing  with  a  young 
lady  that  was  a  good  dancer,  but  he  soon  found  that  it 
added  much  to  his  enjoyment  to  dance  with  one  that 
was  beautiful  to  look  upon  as  well  as  a  good  dancer; 
and  that  when  he  commenced  to  breed  trotters,  having 
in  mind  his  experience  in  the  gay  whirl  of  his  giddy 
days,  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  combine  beauty 
with  speed  in  the  animals  he  should  produce,  and  he 
has  consistently  adhered  to  that  theory  during  all  the 
long  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  business. 

The  black  stallion  Dare  Devil  is  a  product  of  this  sys- 
tem of  breeding,  and  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  horses 
ever  seen  upon  the  race  track  or  in  the  show  ring. 
He  is  a  coal  black,  with  three  white  ankles,  a  small 
star,  and  snip  foaled  June  i,  1893,  sired  by  Mam- 
brino  King,  dam  Mercedes  by  Chimes.  His  first  race 
was  at  Detroit,  when  he  was  four  years  old,  in  which 
he  won  the  last  three  of  four  heats  in  2.15^,  2.16^, 
and  2.1 5 J^.  He  also  won  at  Cleveland,  Columbus, 
Fort  Erie,  Glens  Falls,  Portland  and  Louisville,  and 
met  his  only  defeat  that  season  at  Lexington,  after 
winning  the  first  heat  in  2.09^.  His  showing  that 
season  was  so  good  that  it  was  decided  to  keep  him 
in  the  stud  in  1898,  which  proved  a  very  unfortu- 
nate experiment,  as,  somehow,  in  his  stall  he 
wrenched  one  of  his  hips,  and  he  has  never  been 
strong  enough  since  to  stand  proper  training.  I 
trained  him  the  best  I  could  in  1899,  but  he  plainly 
showed  the  effects  of   his  injury.     I  started  him    in 

lOI 


four  races  that  season,  in  which  he  was  second  in 
two,  and  third  in  one,  and  finished  the  season  at 
New  York,  where  he  was  so  lame  that  he  could 
hardly  trot  at  all,  and  finished  eighth  in  the  first 
heat,  when  I  drew  him.  I  trained  him  again  in 
1900,  and  started  him  in  two  or  three  races,  when 
he  became  so  lame  I  had  to  send  him  home,  and  it 
is  not  probable  that  he  will  ever  again  listen  to  the 
admonitions  of  a  starter.  Dare  Devil  possesses  all 
the  gameness  of  the  family  of  which  he  is  a  dis- 
tinguished member,  and  at  the  time  he  took  his  record 
of  2.09^  could  have  trotted  a  mile  in  2.06  or  2.07. 


X02 


No  ONE  nowadays  need  think  he  has  a  sure 
enough  winner  in  the  Grand  Circuit,  however 
fast  and  promising  his  candidate  may  be,  as 
that  great  arena  is  like  a  mighty  river  fed  by  innumer- 
able streams.  It  opens  at  Detroit  late  in  July,  and  to 
it  come  all  the  choice  performers  of  the  smaller  race 
tracks  that  have  been  campaigning  the  earlier  part  of 
the  season,  as  well  as  the  great  horses  who  have  won 
their  laurels  over  its  historic  tracks  in  years  gone  by, 
and  have  been  specially  prepared  to  continue  their 
triumphs  amidst  the  scenes  of  their  former  conquests. 
The  world's  champion.  The  Abbott,  was  foaled  July 
20,  1893  ;  sired  by  Chimes,  dam  Nettie  King,  record 
2.2034;,  by  Mambrino  King  ;  second  dam  Netty  Murphy 
by  Hamlin  Patchen  ;  third  dam  by  a  son  of  Kentucky 
Whip  —  thoroughbred.  He  is  a  dark  bay  gelding,  1 5  ^ 
hands  high,  left  hind  foot  white,  and  in  ordinary  flesh 
will  weigh  about  1,050  pounds.  He  has  an  intelligent- 
looking  head,  and  his  general  conformation  is  smooth  ; 
while  his  legs  are  not  unusually  heavy,  they  are  well 
formed,  and  his  feet  are  perfect.  Taken  as  a  whole, 
he  comes  about  as  near  being  an  ideal-looking  race 
horse  of  the  modern  school  as  is  often  seen.  I  first 
commenced  work  with  him  in  the  fall  of  1896,  when 
he  was  three  years  old.  At  that  time  he  was  rough- 
gaited  and  inclined  to  amble  and  mix  his  gaits.  I  ex- 
perimented with  him  for  some  time  before  he  con- 
vinced me  that  he  possessed  material  sufficiently  good 
to  be  eligible  to  start  in  the  Grand  Circuit.  I  finally 
shod  him  with  eleven-ounce  shoes  in  front  and  added 
three-ounce  toe  weights,  and  put  a   square-toed  shoe 

103 


on  the  left  front  foot  and  the  right  hind  foot,  and 
made  the  shoe  on  the  left  hind  foot  full  at  the  toe 
and  a  trifle  longer  than  the  shoe  on  the  other  hind 
foot,  and,  shod  in  this  way,  he  would  trot  square 
after  the  preliminary  amble  in  which  he  would  usu- 
ally indulge  when  first  started  —  a  habit  he  has  not 
yet  entirely  forsaken.  His  first  start  was  at  Detroit, 
July  13,  1897,  in  the  M.  and  M.  stake,  in  which  he  won 
the  second  heat  in  2.1  Ij4,  the  fastest  heat  of  the  race, 
and  finished  in  fourth  place.  He  started  a  week  later 
at  the  same  meeting  in  the  2.20  class,  and  was  unplaced. 
But  at  Cleveland,  the  next  week,  he  won  the  2.18  class, 
in  straight  heats,  in  2.12^,  2.iij4,  and  2.1414^.  At 
Fort  Wayne  he  won  the  first  two  heats  in  2.13^  and 
2.13^,  was  third  in  the  third  heat,  and  distanced  in 
the  fourth.  At  the  August  meeting,  at  Readville,  he 
won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.14^,  2.13,  and  2.14^^.  He 
also  won  at  Hartford,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.15,  2.16'^, 
and  2.16]^.  At  Louisville  he  won  the  first  heat  in 
2.13,  was  second  in  the  second  and  third  heats,  and 
distanced  in  the  fourth.  At  Lexington  he  won  the 
second,  third,  and  fourth  heats,  in  2.13,  2.15^,  and 
2.15^.  At  the  September  meeting,  at  Readville,  he 
again  won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.15,  2.135^,  and  2.1314. 
At  Portland  he  won  the  first,  second,  and  fourth  heats, 
in  2.18%!,  2.131^,  and  2.151^.  Making  for  his  first 
season  the  following  record :  Six  times  first,  fourth 
once,  and  unplaced  three  times.  His  first  start  in 
1898  was  at  Hartford,  July  4th,  where  he  won  a  three- 
heat  race  to  wagon  in  2.14  and  2.123^.  His  record  in 
the  second  heat  being  the  world's  race  record  to  wagon. 
He  next  started  at  Detroit  in  the  2.10  class,  which  he 
won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.12^,  2.12,  and  2.08^.  In 
the  same  class,  at  Cleveland,  the  next  week,  he  met  and 

104 


defeated  Eagle  Flannigan,  Pilot  Boy,  Don  Cupid,  and 
Rilma,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.08^,  2.091^,  and  2.095^. 
He  won  the  second  and  third  heats  at  Columbus  in 
2.08^  and  2.08^,  and  finished  in  second  place  in  the 
race.  He  won  the  first  two  heats  at  Glens  Falls  in 
2.1214^  and  2.11^,  and  finished  in  second  place.  At 
Hartford  he  won  the  first,  fourth,  and  fifth  heats,  in 
2.11%,  2.10%,  and  2.09^.  He  won  at  Fort  Erie,  in 
straight  heats,  in  2.1214;,  2.14^,  and  2.13.  At  Port- 
land he  finished  in  third  place.  At  the  fall  meeting, 
at  Readville,  he  won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.08^, 
2.091^,  and  2.o8j^.  He  closed  the  season  at  Lexing. 
ton,  where  he  won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.151^,  2.08, 
and  2.085^.  His  record  for  the  second  racing  season 
being  seven  times  first,  twice  second,  and  third  once,  and 
retiring  in  his  five-year-old  form  with  a  race  record  of 
2.08.  He  improved  all  during  the  season.  I  raced  him 
that  season  shod  with  ten-and-a-half-ounce  shoes  in 
front  and  five-ounce  shoes  behind,  and  since  then  he 
has  worn  nine-ounce  shoes  in  front.  He  developed 
speed  so  rapidly  and  showed  all  the  elements  of  a  first- 
class  race  horse  so  plainly  that  before  this  season  was 
through  I  was  convinced  he  would  be  invincible  in  the 
free-for-all  class  whenever  I  should  deem  it  advisable 
to  introduce  him  to  that  select  company.  He  started 
the  campaign  of  1899  ^^  Detroit,  July  20th,  in  the 
2.08  class,  where  he  won  the  first,  third,  and  fourth 
heats,  in  2.07^,  2.09,  and  2.10^.  In  the  same  class, 
at  Cleveland,  the  next  week,  he  met  and  defeated 
Eagle  Flannigan,  Kentucky  Union,  Mattie  Patterson, 
and  John  Nolan,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.08^,  2.08^, 
and  2.08^.  He  won  in  the  same  class  at  Columbus,  in 
straight  heats,  in  2.09^,  2.oy}^,  and  2.07;^.  His  first 
start   in  the  free-for-all  class  was  at  Fort  Erie,  August 

105 


7,  i899>  which  he  won,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.08,  2.09}^, 
and  2.10^.  In  the  free-for-all  at  Glen's  Falls  he  de- 
feated Bingen,  Monterey,  Kentucky  Union,  Directum 
Kelly,  and  John  Nolan,  winning  the  first,  third,  and 
fourth  heats  in  2.09,  2.093^,  and  2.08^.  He  won  in 
the  same  class  at  Hartford,  in  straight  heats,  in  2.08 J^, 
2.085^,  and  2.07^.  He  repeated  this  performance  at 
Providence  by  winning  two  straight  heats  in  a  free-for- 
all  three-heat  race  in  2.08^  and  2.06)^.  At  New  York 
he  started  against  John  Nolan,  in  a  free-for-all  three- 
heat  race,  and  won  in  straight  heats,  in  2.09^  and 
2.061^.  He  started  at  Providence  in  the  free-for-all, 
and  had  Bingen  as  his  only  competitor,  whom  he  de- 
feated, in  straight  heats,  in  2.09^,  2.09^^,  and  2.06}^. 
He  closed  the  season's  campaign  at  Lexington,  where 
he  defeated  Bingen  and  Cresceus,  winning  the  third, 
fourth,  and  fifth  heats  in  2.oy}4,  2.08^,  and  2.10%;  — 
Bingen  winning  the  first  two  heats  in  2.07^  and  2.09. 
His  record  for  the  season  being  ten  races  won  and  not 
meeting  a  single  defeat.  No  other  horse,  living  or 
dead,  ever  made  such  a  record  as  this.  In  a  total  of 
thirty  races,  embracing  all  the  races  in  which  he  has 
ever  started,  he  was  first  in  twenty-three,  second  in 
two,  third  in  one,  fourth  in  one,  and  unplaced  in  three. 
In  the  thirty  races  in  which  he  started  he  won  seventy- 
six  heats,  all  below  2.20 ;  sixty-nine  of  these  heats 
were  better  than  2.15,  and  thirty-eight  were  better 
than  2.10.  In  1900  there  was  no  free-for-all  class  in 
the  Grand  Circuit,  and  believing  he  had  the  ability  to 
trot  a  faster  mile  than  any  horse  had  ever  yet  done,  I 
took  him  along  with  my  racing  stable  and  gave  exhi- 
bitions at  many  of  the  large  meetings.  I  first  started 
him  at  Detroit,  and  he  trotted  a  mile  in  2.07.  Read- 
ville  next  engaged  his  attention  and  he  there  trotted  a 

106 


mile  in  2.05^.  The  next  trial  was  at  Providence  and 
here  the  time  was  2.043^.  When  Hartford  was  reached 
the  race  record  to  wagon  was  2.121^,  which  he  made 
on  this  track  in  1898,  and  the  trial  record  to  wagon 
was  2.0914,  held  by  Lucille.  I  therefore  determined  to 
try  and  crown  him  as  king  in  front  of  this  vehicle,  and 
he  easily  demolished  all  previous  records  by  drawing  a 
wagon  a  full  mile  in  the  phenomenal  time  of  2.051^.  I 
next  started  him  against  the  Sickle  Bearer,at  New  York, 
where  he  trotted  to  a  record  of  2.04  ;  and  when  Terre 
Haute  was  reached,  in  the  fall,  all  the  conditions  were 
favorable  for  a  fast  mile,  and  I  there  drove  him  a  mile 
in  2.01%,  and  thereby  dethroned  Alix  as  Queen  of  the 
trotting  world.  The  fractional  parts  of  this  record- 
breaking  mile  were  made  as  follows,  viz  :  First  quarter 
in  31^  seconds,  2d  quarter  in  30 J^  seconds,  3d  quar- 
ter in  291^  seconds,  4th  quarter  in  31^  seconds,  and 
the  mile  in  2.03 %!.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  middle 
half  of  this  mile  was  trotted  in  exactly  one  minute, 
which  is  much  faster  than  any  of  his  predecessors  ever 
trotted  this  particular  part  of  the  mile,  and  that  while 
several  other  champions  have  surpassed  his  time  in  the 
first  quarter,  no  one  has  ever  approached  the  speed  he 
showed  in  the  third  quarter.  It  will  also  be  observed 
that  in  the  five  starts  he  made  against  time  in  harness, 
he  improved  at  every  trial,  from  2.07  at  Detroit  to  2.03%^ 
at  Terre  Haute.  The  gait  of  The  Abbott,  when  at  full 
speed,  approaches  perfection  as  nearly  as  we  are  likely 
to  see  in  any  horse  for  some  time;  there  is  just  enough, 
but  not  too  much,  knee  or  hock  action  ;  his  stride  is 
even,  fast  and  frictionless,  with  no  false  motions  or 
waste  of  power.  He  has  constantly  improved  in  every 
race  and  every  trial  since  the  commencement  of  his 
career,  and  as  he  is  now  only  eight  years  old,  perfectly 

107 


sound,  and  without  a  blemish  of  any  kind,  I  can  see 
no  reason  why,  if  he  does  not  go  wrong  in  some  way, 
he  should  not  still  further  reduce  his  record.  That  a 
horse  will  trot  a  mile  in  harness  in  two  minutes  in  the 
near  future  does  not  in  my  judgment  admit  of  a  doubt. 
Whether  any  of  the  horses  I  have  mentioned  will  be 
the  first  to  accomplish  this  much-desired  result  time 
will  soon  demonstrate. 


io8 


CHAPTER    XI. 

BREAKING  COLTS. 

"AS  THE  twig  is  bent  the  tree  will  grow"  is  a 
£\^  maxim  that  has  come  down  to  us  through 
the  ages,  and  has  direct  application  to  the 
breaking  and  educating  of  a  colt.  The  viciousness 
and  worthlessness  of  many  otherwise  valuable  horses 
can  be  traced  directly  to  the  want  of  knowledge, 
care  and  patience  on  the  part  of  the  trainer,  in  giving 
the  young  animal  his  first  few  lessons  in  harness. 
While  in  my  early  career  I  had  quite  a  large  experi- 
ence in  breaking  colts,  since  being  at  Village  Farm 
I  have  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  that 
important  branch  of  the  business,  as  that  is  done 
entirely  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Freeman,  a  man  of  large 
experience,  and  the  most  successful  colt  breaker  I 
ever  saw.  Out  of  the  great  number  he  has  broken  at 
Village  Farm  he  has  never  injured  one,  and  when  he 
turns  them  over  to  be  handled  they  are  thoroughly 
broken  and  ready  for  use.  I  thoroughly  approve  his 
methods,  and  if  those  desiring  colts  well  broken  will 
follow  his  instructions,  their  desires  will  be  gratified. 
In  the  first  place,  I  think  it  best  to  take  plenty  of 
time  to  bit  a  colt  and  have  him  thoroughly  broken 
before  trying  to  give  him  speed.  I  usually  ground 
break  him  a  week  or  ten  days,  that  is,  let  him  get 
thoroughly  use  to  the  harness,  and  drive  him  a  good 
deal  with  it  on  and  teach  him  to  start  and  stop  at  the 
word.     Also  to  turn  to  the  right  or  left,  with  ease  ; 

109 


and,  above  all,  never  exhaust  him  or  get  his  mouth 
sore.  During  this  time  it  is  well  to  pull  a  cart 
or  sulky,  or  something  light,  with  shafts  up  to  him 
as  if  you  intended  to  hook  him  up.  He  will  soon 
find  that  the  rig  is  not  going  to  hurt  him  and  will 
not  be  afraid ;  and  when  hooked  up,  he  wants  to 
be  driven  slowly  and  only  a  short  distance,  never 
far  enough  to  fret  and  tire  him.  You  will  find  in 
a  short  time  he  will  take  his  work  cheerfully. 
After  two  or  three  weeks  of  this  kind  of  work,  drive 
him  out  on  the  road  about  a  mile,  then  turn ;  if  the 
road  is  good,  let  him  move  a  hundred  or  two  yards 
well  within  himself.  After  getting  back  to  the  track, 
jog  him  around  once,  let  him  step  the  last  200  yards 
at  about  three-fourths  speed.  His  improvement  will 
be  astonishing  after  two  weeks  of  this  work.  Of 
course,  his  work  can  be  increased  as  he  gets  in  condi- 
tion, but  I  do  not  think  it  advisable  to  continue  his 
fast  work  too  long.  Always  let  up  on  him  before  he 
gets  tired  of  his  work ;  two  or  three  weeks'  let  up  will 
do  him  a  great  deal  of  good.  After  he  is  taken  up  the 
second  time  and  jogged  a  week,  he  is  ready  to  begin  to 
step  along  a  little,  as  he  has  not  been  turned  out  long 
enough  for  his  muscles  to  relax  ;  and  after  he  has  been 
started  up  two  or  three  times,  you  will  find  he  will 
have  more  speed  than  when  turned  out.  I  think  six 
weeks  is  long  enough  to  keep  him  at  work  this  time. 
Turn  out  again  from  ten  to  thirty  days.  Be  governed 
by  conditions  and  the  constitution  of  the  colt.  My 
experience  has  been  that  it  is  not  advisable  to  jog  a 
colt  too  much,  as  he  is  apt  to  get  off  his  gait  and 
does  not  improve  so  fast  as  he  does  with  short,  lively 
work.  You  can  generally  tell  from  the  actions  of  colts 
barefooted  about  the  weight  shoes    he  will  need.     I 

110 


like  to  shoe  them  as  h'ght  as  possible.  You  must 
have  weight  enough  to  balance  them.  The  average 
colt  will  need  about  seven  ounces  in  front  and  about 
four  ounces  behind.  Some  want  a  little  more  and 
some  less.  When  they  require  more,  I  generally  use  a 
light  toe  weight,  two  or  three  ounces,  and  just  as  few 
boots  as  possible.  It  is  safest  to  use  a  light  quarter 
boot  on  all  of  them,  as  the  purest-gaited  and  best- 
headed  colts  are  liable  to  make  a  mistake  and  cut  a 
quarter. 


CHAPTER     XII. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  GOOD  ASSISTANTS  — TRAINING  STABLE 
SHOULD  BE  PROPERLY  CONDUCTED  —  ADVANT- 
AGES OF  SOUTHERN  CLIMATE  IN  WINTERING 
HORSES  —  SUGGESTIONS  ABOUT  FEEDING  —  HOW 
TO  CARE  FOR  TENDER  FEET  —  USES  OF  THE 
SPRING  — IMPORTANCE  OF  KEEPING  THE  TEETH 
IN  GOOD  CONDITION. 

AS  NO  general,  however  much  ability  he  might 
possess,  ever  won  a  battle  unless  he  had  com- 
petent men  under  him,  so  it  is  that  no  trainer, 
however  competent  he  may  be,  can  properly  condition 
a  stable  of  horses  for  racing  unless  he  has  competent 
assistants.  I  have  been  very  fortunate  in  the  assist- 
ance I  have  had,  especially  since  coming  to  Village 
Farm.  Mr.  Ben  White,  who  has  been  my  chief  assist- 
ant for  several  years,  is  a  young  gentleman  of  the 
highest  promise.  He  is  intelligent,  patient  and  care- 
ful, and  at  all  times  a  gentleman,  and  I  predict  for 
him  a  most  brilliant  career  in  his  chosen  profession. 
The  groom  is  a  very  important  factor  in  the  success  of 
aracingstable,  and  anyman  that  learns  how  to  care  for 
his  horses  as  he  should,  and  does  his  work  well,  de- 
serves just  as  much  credit  for  the  success  of  a  race  as 
does  the  man  that  trains  and  drives  the  horse.  An- 
other important  matter  I  desire  to  impress  upon  the 
minds  of  beginners,  and  it  might  apply  with  equal 
force  to  some  of  the  more  experienced,  is  that  loud 
talk,  profanity,  vulgarity  and  obscenity  have  no  proper 

112 


place  in  a  training  stable.  I  have  never  known  a 
horse  to  be  benefited  by  any  of  these  disgusting  habits. 
The  training  stable  should  be  conducted  with  the  same 
degree  of  propriety  that  is  observed  in  the  transac- 
tion of  any  other  legitimate  business,  and  should 
at  all  times  be  a  place  where  ladies,  as  well 
as  all  others,  can  visit  without  their  sensibili- 
ties being  shocked  by  hearing  and  seeing  things  to 
which  their  ears  and  eyes  are  not  accustomed. 

A  Southern  climate  has  many  advantages  not  pos- 
sessed by  a  Northern  one,  in  preparing  horses  for  cam- 
paigning.   I  have  experimented  in  different  latitudes  for 
the  past  twenty-five  years  and  feel  that  this  experience 
qualifies  me  to  speak  with  some  degree  of  accuracy. 
The  climate  of  California  in  winter  is  all  that  could  be 
desired,  as,  except  for  the  rain,  there  is  scarcely  a  day 
all   winter   in    which  horses  cannot  be  worked ;     but 
the  great  distance  to  ship  back  and  forth  from  points 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  renders  a  resort  to  that 
delightful    climate    impracticable.      Everything    con- 
sidered, I  think  the  most  satisfactory  climate  to  winter 
campaigning  horses  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  in 
Alabama  and  Georgia,  as  it  is  warm  enough  there  so 
that  horses    may    be    worked    during    all    the  winter 
months  as  well  as  they  can  in  the  North  during  the 
spring  and  early  summer.     I  have  wintered  at  Selma, 
Ala.,  several  winters,  and  like  it  very  much.     There  is 
no   use  in    starting  to   race  horses    unless   they  have 
sufficient  speed  and  endurance  to  warrant  the  conclu- 
sion that  they  will  have  a  fair  show  of  winning  in  their 
classes,  and  in  order  for  them  to  be  fit  for  racing  they 
must  have  a  careful  and  painstaking  preparation.     You 
cannot  take  a  horse  direct  from  the  plow  to  the  race 
track  and  make  a  successful  campaign  with  him,  how- 

"3 


ever  much  speed  you  may  know  him  to  possess,  and 
many  horses  unjustly  get  the  reputation  of  being 
"  quitters  "  simply  because  they  have  not  been  suffici- 
ently prepared  to  stand  the  strain  of  racing.  A 
moment's  reflection  will  convince  any  one  that  a  horse 
cannot  do  as  well  when  worked  in  the  cold  weather  of 
the  North,  where  when  he  sweats  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  get  him  dry  and  properly  care  for  him,  as  he 
can  in  a  warm  climate,  where  he  can  be  worked  and 
cared  for  the  same  in  winter  as  in  summer  ;  and,  from 
my  experience,  I  am  satisfied  that  as  much  can  be 
accomplished  in  a  climate  like  Selma  in  the  three 
months  of  winter  in  preparing  a  horse  for  the  next 
season's  campaign  as  can  be  accomplished  in  six 
months  in  the  North. 

I  prefer  to  winter  the  horses  I  expect  to  campaign 
the  following  season  so  that  I  can  have  them  good  and 
strong,  with  no  surplus  flesh  in  the  spring.  Winter  is 
the  time  to  get  their  feet  in  good  condition,  especially 
where  they  have  contracted  or  uneven  quarters. 
A  great  many  trainers  use  springs  in  the  feet  in  the 
summer  season  when  the  horses  are  getting  strong 
work,  which  I  think  is  injurious,  as  the  sole  of  the  foot 
has  to  be  trimmed  down  too  thin  for  the  horse  to 
make  fast  work  at  that  time.  Some  pull  the  shoes  off 
and  let  the  horse  go  barefooted,  to  let  Nature  do  the 
work,  which  is  all  right,  and  will  be  beneficial  if  you 
will  give  them  time  ;  but  more  can  be  accomplished 
with  the  spring  in  six  weeks  then  can  be  accomplished 
in  twelve  months  when  the  horse  is  running  bare- 
footed. If  the  foot  is  contracted  and  needs  the  spring, 
stand  the  horse  in  hot  water  up  to  the  coronet  thirty 
minutes ;  then  take  him  to  the  shop  and  have  the  sole 
of  the  foot  well  pared,  also  the  wall  of  the  foot  taken 

114 


down,  but  that  should  be  done  in  a  manner  that  will 
not  make  him  tender.  Put  in  the  spring,  and  put 
on  an  open  shoe  with  nail  holes  punched  near 
the  toe,  as  the  nails  will  not  give  the  spring  a  chance 
to  work  if  too  near  the  heel.  Put  the  shoe  on  full  at 
the  quarters,  and  it  will  be  only  a  few  days  before  the 
foot  will  be  wider  than  the  shoe ;  then  the  shoe 
should  be  taken  off  and  the  springs  and  shoe  widened 
a  little  and  the  shoe  put  on  again  as  before.  Keep 
this  up  until  the  foot  is  as  wide  as  desired.  Do  not 
stiffen  the  springs  any  more  after  this,  but  keep  them 
in  about  six  weeks,  just  stiff  enough  to  hold  the  foot 
at  its  then  width,  and  get  the  shoe  set.  Be  careful 
and  not  get  the  heels  too  wide,  as  that  would  be  as 
injurious  as  when  they  are  contracted.  A  great  many 
horses'  feet  turn  in  on  the  inside  quarter  and  are 
straight  and  all  right  on  the  outside  quarter.  When 
this  is  the  case,  punch  the  shoe  with  four  nail  holes  on 
the  outside,  and  two  on  the  inside  near  the  toe.  All 
the  nails  being  driven  on  the  outside  and  only  two 
near  the  toe  on  the  inside,  will  cause  the  spring  to  put 
all  the  pressure  against  the  inside  quarter.  When 
shod  in  this  manner  it  will  only  be  a  short  time  until  the 
inside  quarter  will  be  as  straight  as  the  outside.  After 
the  horse  is  shod  put  him  in  hot  water  again  for  thirty 
minutes,  and  pack  his  feet  with  oil  meal  or  clay  every 
night  for  a  week  or  ten  days  ;  after  that  time  two  or 
three  times  a  week  will  do.  Some  horses  have  high 
quarters  on  the  inside  of  the  front  feet,  that  is,  the 
inside  quarter  seems  to  be  forced  up  higher  than  the 
outside  quarter,  and  when  this  is  the  case  the  horse  is 
apt  to  get  sore  in  his  feet.  In  order  to  remedy  this, 
drop  the  quarter  down,  have  a  stiff  bar  shoe  made 
weighing  not  less  than  ten  ounces,  level  the  foot,  then, 

"5 


after  the  shoe  is  fitted,  commence  at  the  inside 
quarter,  take  it  down  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  lower 
at  the  heel  than  any  other  part  of  the  foot ;  then  with 
a  rasp  file  from  the  lowest  point  in  this  quarter  to 
about  half  way  to  the  toe,  running  out  to  a  feather 
edge  at  this  point ;  then  put  on  the  shoe,  which  will 
be  solid  on  the  outside  quarter,  and  the  bar  resting  on 
the  frog;  this  will  leave  a  space  on  the  inside  quarter 
of  about  three  inches  that  does  not  touch  the  shoe. 
In  ten  days  or  two  weeks  you  will  find  this  quarter 
will  come  down  and  rest  on  the  shoe  the  same  as  the 
balance  of  the  foot ;  then  reset  the  shoe  and  trim  or 
rasp  the  quarter  as  before,  and  continue  to  do  this 
about  six  weeks  or  longer  if  necessary,  and  you  will 
find  the  foot  will  be  very  much  improved. 

I  do  not  think  a  horse  should  be  fed  too  much  grain 
through  the  winter.  It  depends  a  great  deal  upon  the 
condition  of  the  horse  at  the  commencement  of  winter 
in  regard  to  the  amount  of  grain  he  should  eat.  I  find 
from  seven  to  nine  quarts  a  day  is  enough  for  most 
any  horse  when  he  is  not  getting  hard  work.  A  horse 
wants  all  the  good,  clean  hay  he  will  eat  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  I  generally  feed  him  two  quarts  of  grain  at 
that  time ;  at  noon  I  like  good,  clean  sheaf  oats,  cut 
them  up  and  put  in  about  a  quart  and  a  half  of  bran 
to  a  large  pailful  of  oats ;  put  in  the  least  bit  of  salt, 
add  just  enough  water  to  dampen  the  bran  ;  give  him 
this,  with  three  or  four  carrots.  With  some  horses  I 
add  an  ear  or  two  of  corn  with  this  feed.  At  night  I 
like  to  cook  the  oats;  to  do  this,  put  enough  oats  in 
a  large  kettle  with  water  sufficient  to  cook  well,  which 
will  take  about  two  hours ;  keep  adding  water,  and  do 
not  let  the  oats  get  too  dry  while  cooking;  after  the 
oats  are  well  cooked  add  about  a  fourth  as  much  bran 

ii6 


as  there  are  oats,  that  is,  each  horse  wants  to  eat 
three  quarts  of  oats  and  one  quart  of  bran  at  night ; 
feed  while  it  is  warm  ;  you  may  also  give  an  ear  or 
two  of  corn  with  this  feed,  if  the  horse  hasn't  had 
enough.  As  spring  advances  and  you  begin  to  give 
the  horse  more  work,  you  can  dispense  with  the  cooked 
food  and  give  him  dry  oats,  especially  after  grass  be- 
gins to  come ;  then  I  like  to  graze  two  or  three  times 
a  week  on  days  after  giving  the  horse  fast  work  ;  the 
grain  will  have  to  be  increased  as  the  work  is  increased. 
In  the  spring  I  generally  feed  from  ten  to  twelve 
quarts  a  day,  and  some  horses  will  need  a  little  more  ; 
but  I  think  most  horses  do  better  on  twelve  quarts  a 
day  or  less,  than  more.  Very  few  horses  will  digest 
more  than  twelve  quarts  of  oats  a  day.  If  a  horse 
does  not  digest  his  grain,  fifteen  quarts  would  not  be 
as  good  for  him  as  ten.  When  horses  commence  to 
jog  in  the  winter  the  teeth  should  be  looked  after  and 
the  rough  edges  taken  off,  so  that  the  mouth  will  not 
get  sore.  When  the  teeth  are  neglected  they  get  to 
driving  on  one  rein  and  fussing  with  the  bit,  which  is 
very  injurious  to  the  horse's  temper,  as  he  is  liable  to 
form  the  habit  and  keep  it  up  through  the  spring  and 
summer ;  and  to  be  successful  the  race  horse  must  have 
a  good  mouth. 


117 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

ADVICE  TO  THE  INEXPERIENCED —JOGGING  — FEEDING 
AND  PREPARING  HORSE  FOR  RACES  —  BITS  AND 
CHECKS  — CARING  FOR  HORSE  DURING  RACE— USE 
OF  REMEDIES  FOR  DIFFERENT  AILMENTS— IMPOR- 
TANCE OF  KEEPING  STALLS  CLEANSED. 

THIS  chapter  is  intended  for  the  benefit  of  the 
inexperienced.  A  man  to  be  a  successful  trainer 
and  driver  must  be  a  diligent  student  during 
his  whole  business  life,  and  should  never  allow  himself 
to  think  that  he  has  arrived  at  that  state  of  perfection 
where  there  is  nothing  more  for  him  to  learn.  Success 
will  not  always  crown  his  efforts,  however  careful  and 
industrious  he  may  be.  Any  one  that  has  had  a  large 
experience  in  the  prosecution  of  an  enterprise  will 
have  some  good  ideas  about  the  business  even  though 
he  may  not  himself  have  met  with  success,  and  the 
beginner  can  get  advice  from  such  a  man  that  will  be 
of  great  benefit  to  him  if  it  is  understood  and  properly 
applied.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  formulate 
any  inflexible  rule  as  to  the  amount  of  work  a 
horse  should  have  in  the  spring  to  properly  condi- 
tion him  for  a  season's  racing,  as  so  much  depends 
upon  the  strength  and  condition  of  the  horse,  that 
what  would  be  proper  in  one  case  would  be  entirely 
inadequate  or  excessive  in  another,  and  the  trainer 
must  necessarily  exercise  his  best  judgment  and  dis- 
cretion in  determining  the  amount  of  work  to  be  given 
a  horse  that  has  been  placed  in  his  hands  to  condition. 
The  following   are  general    rules    applicable  to  most 

ii8 


horses,  but  must  be  varied  as  circumstances  require. 
I  think  it  is  a  mistake  to  jog  horses  too  far.  From 
three  to  five  miles  a  day  is  ordinarily  sufficient  for 
most  horses,  except  that  on  one  day  in  each  week  it  is 
best  to  jog  seven  or  eight  miles,  so  the  horse  will  get 
a  little  leg  weary.  Some  days  three  miles  and  some 
four  and  five  miles ;  but  I  do  not  believe  in  slow 
jogging  for  more  than  one  mile.  After  going  the  first 
mile  it  is  best  to  let  them  jog  along  good  and  strong, 
as  I  am  satisfied  that  from  three  to  five  miles  stiff 
jogging  will  do  a  horse  more  good  than  twenty  miles,  at 
a  slow,  pokey  gait.  I  also  think  a  great  many  horses 
are  jogged  so  far,  and  slow,  that  it  takes  away  their 
speed,  besides  it  gets  monotonous  to  the  horse,  and  he 
does  not  take  his  work  as  cheerfully  as  a  horse  that  is 
jogged  short  and  lively.  Experience  teaches  us  that 
for  a  man  to  do'  his  work  well  and  keep  himself  in 
proper  condition  to  perform  the  work,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  element  of  cheerfulness  be  present  during 
its  performance.  Monotony  is  not  only  injurious  to 
the  mental  faculties,  but,  if  long  continued,  will  under- 
mine the  health  and  strength.  This  same  principle 
applies  to  the  care  and  work  of  horses.  Drive  a 
horse  over  the  same  road  day  after  day,  week  in 
and  week  out,  and  you  will  observe  that  he  seems  to 
lose  all  interest  in  his  work ;  and  instead  of  showing, 
by  his  actions,  that  he  considers  it  a  pleasure  to  do  the 
master's  bidding,  his  only  thought  seems  to  be  about 
getting  back  to  the  stable  where  there  is  rest  and 
something  to  eat.  But  take  him  out  on  a  new  drive 
where  the  scenery  is  fresh  to  him,  and,  behold,  what 
a  change  !  He  is  looking  at  every  object,  listening  to 
the  unfamiliar  sounds,  and  keeps  constantly  begging 
for   more   rein,  that  he    may  show  by  his  speed  the 

119 


pleasure  he  is  experiencing  as  he  gaily  steps  along  the 
new  pathway.  A  horse  that  is  jogged  fifteen  and  twenty 
miles  a  day  slow  will  stop  quicker  than  a  horse  that 
is  only  jogged  four  and  five  miles  a  day  good  and 
strong.  This  I  know  from  experience,  as  I  have  tried 
the  same  horses  both  ways.  When  possible,  I  think 
it  advisable  to  give  horses  some  fast  work  up  to  the 
first  of  January,  especially  green  horses  that  have  never 
been  started.  I  find  when  they  have  been  given  strong 
work  up  to  that  time  that  they  are  much  easier  to  put 
in  condition  in  the  spring,  as  their  muscles  do  not 
relax  as  much  and  they  stand  the  work  much  better. 
This  is  one  reason  I  think  it  better  to  winter  them  in  a 
warm  climate.  Another  is  that  you  have  more  time 
in  the  spring  of  the  year  to  get  them  ready,  and  do 
not  have  to  hurry  their  preparation  as  you  do  when 
they  are  wintered  in  the  North.  Any  horse  that  gets 
a  long,  slow  preparation  will  stand  the  season's  cam- 
paign better  than  one  that  does  not  get  it.  The  trot- 
ting-horse  business  is  like  a  chain  of  many  links.  If 
one  or  more  links  are  neglected  and  get  rusty,  the  chain 
does  not  work  well.  So  it  is  just  as  important  to  look 
after  each  and  every  detail  as  it  is  to  drive  the  horse 
and  hold  the  watch.  It  is  very  essential  to  have  the 
harness  fit  easy  and  comfortable,  particularly  the 
bridle.  If  the  bridle  does  not  fit  just  right  the  horse 
will  not  drive  right.  The  martingales  should  not  be 
too  short.  Most  horses  drive  best  in  easy  bits.  I  like 
a  large  snaffle  bit  for  most  horses.  The  leather  bits 
are  good  for  some  and  pneumatic  are  good  for  others. 
I  think  the  Gillan  bit  is  about  the  best  and  most 
humane  I  ever  used  on  a  horse.  There  are  some 
horses  that  need  a  bar  bit,  and  I  find  it  is  well  to 
change  the  bit  on  some  horses  every  few  days. 


Some  horses  drive  best  with  side  checks  and  some  with 
overdraw;  but  I  find  most  horses  work  best  with  the 
overdraw.  My  experience  has  been  that  more  horses 
work  good  in  the  Hulten  overd raw-check  than  in  any 
other.  This  check  does  not  suit  all  horses.  Some 
like  the  plain  over-check,  with  secret  bit  and  chin 
strap.  Others  like  the  plain  over-check,  with  chin 
strap  without  secret  bit.  When  a  horse  does  not 
drive  to  suit  you,  it  is  necessary  to  change  bits  and 
checks  until  you  find  what  suits  him  best.  After  the 
horse  has  been  jogged  through  the  winter,  as  spring 
advances,  and  the  roads  get  good,  it  is  time  to  let  him 
move  along  at  half  speed  for  two  or  three  hundred 
yards.  Do  this  a  couple  of  times  during  the  three  or 
four  miles  on  the  road  two  or  three  times  a  week,  and 
increase  the  work  from  week  to  week.  After  getting 
on  the  track  do  not  speed  them  for  two  or  three  drives, 
then  only  at  half  speed  for  a  couple  of  quarters  in  the 
mile  ;  it  is  best  after  jogging  three  miles  the  wrong 
way  of  the  track  to  turn  around  and  jog  stiff  to  the 
quarter  pole,  step  them  at  half  speed  the  second  quar- 
ter, jog  stiff  the  third  quarter,  then  step  them  at  half 
speed  the  last  quarter.  Do  this  about  three  times  a 
week  for  two  weeks,  the  third  week  work  them  about 
the  same,  except  step  them  the  last  quarter  at  about 
three-quarter  speed.  After  this  they  are  ready  to  go 
an  easy  mile  the  last  half  about  half  speed.  Finish 
the  last  200  yards  good  and  strong.  After  a  week's 
work  of  this  kind  they  are  ready  to  go  easy  repeats. 
The  first  and  second  weeks  you  begin  to  repeat  only 
give  them  two  heats  each  day  you  repeat  them  ;  for 
instance,  if  you  are  working  a  horse  that  can  trot  a 
mile  in  2.20,  give  him  a  mile  on  Monday  in  2.40; 
Tuesday,  jog  him  ;    Wednesday,  give  him  a  mile  in 

121 


2.45  i  Thursday,  give  him  a  mile  in  2.40  and  one  in 
2.35  or  2.36;  Friday,  jog  him;  Saturday,  blow  him 
out  just  a  little  through  the  stretch,  and  rest  him  on 
Sunday.  The  following  week  work  about  the  same, 
except  a  second  or  two  stronger.  After  this  give  him 
a  mile  Monday  in  2.40  and  repeat  him  in  2.35,  always 
stepping  the  last  quarter  a  little  the  strongest.  Jog 
Tuesday  ;  Wednesday,  give  him  a  mile  in  2.40 ;  Thurs- 
day, give  him  a  mile  in  2.40,  one  in  2.35  and  one  in 
2.30;  jog  on  the  road  Friday;  Saturday,  jog  good 
and  strong  on  the  road  ;  rest  again  on  Sunday.  Con- 
tinue working  this  way,  the  number  of  days  and  heats, 
about  four  weeks,  except  increasing  the  speed  one  or 
two  seconds  every  week  on  the  days  you  work  out 
three  heats.  These  directions  are  for  horses  that  can 
trot  or  pace  in  2.20  or  better,  sound  and  all  right. 
There  may  be  a  great  many  things  happen  that  will 
change  the  program,  such  as  rainy  days,  cracked  heels, 
etc.  It  is  necessary,  after  you  have  commenced  to 
repeat  to  score  them  once  or  twice  between  each  heat 
at  half  speed.  Continue  work  in  this  way  until  about 
three  weeks  before  they  start  in  races ;  then  on  Mon- 
day you  can  give  them  one  heat  in  2.40,  one  in  2.30, 
and  one  in  2.25  ;  jog,  Tuesday  ;  Wednesday,  give  them 
a  mile  from  2.25  to  2.30;  Thursday,  go  the  first  mile  in 
2.40,  the  second  in  2.30 ;  the  next  two  miles  go  within 
three  or  four  seconds  of  their  speed.  The  days  you  give 
them  four  miles,  increase  the  speed  the  last  two  miles 
a  couple  of  seconds ;  also  score  three  or  four  times 
between  each  heat  during  the  last  three  weeks  before 
starting  in  races.  Some  horses  do  well  to  blow  them 
out,  that  is,  work  them  out,  three  slow  miles  two 
days  before  they  race,  one  mile  in  2.40,  one  in  2.30, 
and  one  in  2.20  to  2.25  ;    but  I  find  most  horses  do 


better  to  blow  them  out  an  easy  mile  the  day  before 
the  race.  I  think  it  is  very  injurious  to  most  horses 
not  to  give  them  any  fast  work  in  four  or  five  days, 
then  take  them  out  and  give  them  three  or  four  fast 
heats,  especially  horses  that  are  good  feeders.  After 
the  horse  is  in  condition,  he  doesn't  need  very  much 
work  between  his  races,  three  days  before  his  race 
three  slow  heats  are  sufficient.  The  day  before  the 
race  go  a  mile  in  2.40. 

In  the  early  part  of  a  horse's  work  I  do  not  think  it 
advisable  to  bandage  much  nor  use  leg  or  body  wash. 
I  do  not  think  it  best  to  rub  the  horse  too  much;  it  makes 
him  sore  and  irritable,  and  causes  him  to  lose  flesh. 
When  the  horse  comes  in  from  his  work  throw  a  light 
blanket  over  him  and  take  a  dam.p  sponge  and  sponge 
his  legs  and  rub  them  with  a  cloth  a  little,  then  scrape 
the  sweat  out  of  his  hair.  Straighten  his  hair  with  cloths, 
and  throw  the  blanket  over  him  again  ;  you  will  be  gov- 
erned by  the  weather  as  to  the  weight  of  the  blanket. 
Walk  him  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  then  take  him 
in,  rub  him  again  very  lightly  with  the  cloths  five  or 
ten  minutes,  blanket  him  again  and  walk  him  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  minutes,  then  he  is  ready  to  do  up,  if 
the  work  has  not  been  very  strong ;  but  if  it  has,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  spend  more  time  on  him.  After  he 
has  been  rubbed  out  and  cleaned  thoroughly,  wash 
his  feet  and  sponge  his  legs.  Dry  them  thoroughly 
with  the  cloths,  give  him  a  little  water  at  different 
times,  as  he  is  being  cooled  out;  after  he  is  finished, 
give  him  all  the  water  and  hay  he  wants.  The  day  he  is 
worked  out  lightly,  he  should  have  a  cold  mash  for  his 
dinner;  three  quarts  and  a  half  of  oats  and  a  quart  of 
bran,  with  just  enough  water  to  dampen  the  bran. 
The    day  he    gets   repeats  or  strong  work   he  should 

123 


have  a  hot  mash  at  night.  As  you  begin  to  give 
him  strong  fast  work  it  will  be  advisable  to  use  band- 
ages, leg  and  body  wash.  A  wash  I  like  the  best  for 
this  purpose  is  two  parts  of  witch  hazel,  one  part  of 
alcohol,  and  one  part  of  soft  water.  This  should  be 
used  warm  when  the  horse  comes  in  from  his  work. 
Spray  it  on  the  body  and  muscles,  then  rub  well  with 
the  hands,  lay  the  cooler  or  light  blanket  over  him 
while  the  wash  and  bandages  are  being  put  on  his 
legs,  and  cool  him  out  as  before  stated.  If  the  horse 
has  had  fast  hard  work  or  a  race,  after  he  is  cooled  out 
and  ready  to  put  away,  use  a  little  of  the  wash  on  his 
legs  and  put  on  the  bandage  for  a  couple  of  hours.  It 
is  best  to  put  on  the  bandage  very  light.  I  think  the 
wash  should  be  used  sparingly  on  the  horse's  body. 
Most  grooms  will  use  twice  as  much  as  is  necessary. 
If  a  horse  has  a  bad  leg  it  will  be  necessary  to  use  a 
wash  that  is  more  of  an  astringent  at  night,  such  a 
one  as  is  hereinafter  described  for  lameness.  In  dry 
weather,  both  winter  and  summer,  the  horse's  feet 
should  be  packed  with  oil  meal,  or  clay,  three  or  four 
times  a  week. 

If  the  leg  is  very  bad  and  the  horse  is  lame,  it  is 
necessary  to  go  easy  with  him  a  week  or  ten  days,  and 
use  ''Great  Discovery"  according  to  directions. 
After  using  this  a  few  days  use  the  wash  I  have  here- 
inafter mentioned  for  lameness,  etc.  I  have  derived 
great  benefit  from  using  a  wash  made  of  sugar  of  lead, 
six  ounces;  chloride  of  ammonia,  six  ounces  ;  tincture 
of  iodine,  six  ounces  ;  acetic  acid,  one  pint ;  salt,  eight 
ounces;  dissolve  all  separately  and  add  one  gallon 
of  soft  water.  The  proper  way  to  use  this  is  to  bathe 
the  leg  well  with  it  at  night  and  put  a  sheet  of  cotton 
batting  around  the  leg,  then  put  on  the  bandage  and 

124 


leave  it  on  all  night.  Take  it  off  early  in  the  morning, 
and  rub  the  leg  lightly  with  a  soft  towel.  Leave  every- 
thing off  until  he  has  had  his  exercise  or  work,  so  the 
leg  can  have  air.  I  think  Mr.  Marvin  has  used  this 
tincture  for  several  years. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  anything  about  driving, 
as  that  is  one  of  the  first  things  most  trainers  learn, 
but  I  would  make  a  few  suggestions.     The    first    is, 
learn  to  drive  with  a  light  hand.     Never  pull  on  the 
horse's  mouth  more  than  you  can  possibly  help.     A 
pulling  horse  is  disagreeable  to  drive,  and  cannot  trot 
as  fast  when  he  pulls,  as  he  is  liable  to  cut  off  his  wind 
a  little  and  possibly  choke ;  and,  above  all,  never  drive 
a  horse  with  the   arms  extended  straight,  as  you  do 
not  have  control  of  the  horse,  and  cannot  help  him 
when   he  is   tired.     A  great   many  horses  will  pull  a 
little   at  times,  especially  in  scoring  with    a    field    of 
horses.     Then  it  is  necessary  to  take  hold  of  him  a 
little,  but  ease  away  to  him  as  soon  as  possible.     With 
some  horses  you  can  tell  when  to  do  this  by  the  move- 
ment of  the  ears  and  head.     If  you   fail  to  do  this  at 
the  right  time,  and  the  horses  are  evenly  matched,  you 
will   certainly  lose  the  heat.      Another  suggestion   I 
would  make  is  :  if  you  have  a  horse  that  cannot  trot 
better  than  2.14  or  2.15  and  you  are  in  a  race  against 
horses  that   can   trot   in  2.10  or  2.12   and  happen  to 
get  away  well  and  trotting  second  to  a  horse  you  know 
can  go  in  2.10,  it  is  bad  policy  to  try  to  drive  your  horse 
faster  than  he  can  go  in  chasing  the  2.10  horse.     If 
you  do  this,  you  will  certainly  get  left,  as  there  is  no 
chance  for  you  to  win,  and  you  are  apt  to  make  a  mis- 
take and  other  horses  may  come  on  and  beat  you  for 
a  place.     A  great  many  horses  lose  races  they  could 
win  if  the  driver  had  patience  to  sit  still  a  little  longer. 

125 


To  keep  horses  in  good  health  you  must  at  all  times 
have  plenty  of  fresh  air  without  a  draught  on  them. 
The  stall  should  be  cleaned  and  disinfected.  To  do 
this,  sprinkle  all  around  the  stall  inside  and  out  with  a 
solution  of  carbolic  acid.  Also  sprinkle  slaked  lime, 
especially  in  damp  places.  Every  time  horses  are 
shipped,  the  car  should  be  thoroughly  cleaned,  aired 
and  disinfectants  used  before  putting  the  horses  in  it. 
I  find  it  very  important  to  do  this  in  every  place  horses 
go.  I  also  think  it  is  advisable  to  burn  tar  and  sul- 
phur in  the  stable  two  or  three  time  a  week.  I  am 
satisfied  it  will  relieve  you  of  a  good  deal  of  worry  and 
expense  during  the  season.  Horses  get  sick  some- 
times even  though  you  do  all  you  can  to  prevent  it. 
When  a  horse  is  taken  sick,  it  is  all  important  that  he 
have  immediate  treatment ;  but  it  sometimes  happens 
that  when  sickness  is  discovered  there  is  no  veterinary 
surgeon  to  be  had  in  time  to  do  the  horse  any  good, 
and  many  horses  are  lost  that  might  have  been  saved 
if  the  veterinary  had  seen  them  in  time.  Appreciating 
the  importance  of  applying  a  remedy  as  soon  as  sickness 
is  discovered  in  a  horse,  and  knowing  the  impossibility 
sometimes  of  getting  a  veterinary  just  when  you  want 
him,  I  have  for  a  number  of  years  kept  with  me  a  full 
supply  of  Humphrey's  Homeopathic  Remedies,  and 
have  had  good  results  from  their  use.  Not  only 
are  the  results  of  this  medicine  very  satisfactory  but 
it  is  so  easily  administered  that  any  one  can  give  it. 
If  a  man  will  study  the  book  and  go  strictly  by  direc- 
tions he  can  accomplish  much  with  it.  It  seems 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  you  should  know  and  un- 
derstand what  the  ailment  is  before  you  attempt  to 
cure  it ;  for  if  you  do  not,  neither  these  remedies  nor 
any  others  will  do  the  horse  any  good. 

126 


For  chafes  and  cracked  heels  I  have  found  the  follow- 
ing treatment  the  best :  take  a  little  castile  soap  and 
warm  soft  water  and  a  soft  sponge  and  cleanse  thorough- 
ly ;  then  thoroughly  dry  the  same,  and  if  very  bad  put 
on  a  little  vaseline ;  then  apply  a  powder  made  of  the 
following  ingredients,  viz  :  calomel,  one  ounce  ;  borax, 
one  ounce  ;  pulverized  alum,  one  ounce ;  pulverized 
camphor  gum,  one  ounce ;  pulverized  orris  root,  one 
ounce ;  fuller's  earth,  one  ounce ;  gum  of  myrrh,  one 
ounce.  If  vaseline  or  other  salves  are  properly  used 
they  are  beneficial ;  but  the  trouble  is,  most  grooms 
will  use  several  times  more  than  is  necessary,  and  this 
excessive  use  keeps  the  part  to  which  it  is  applied  so 
soft  that  it  does  more  harm  than  good,  and,  therefore, 
I  think  it  advisable  to  use  the  powder  alone,  except  in 
extreme  cases,  which  rarely  occur.  When  it  is  found 
necessary  to  use  vaseline  or  other  salves,  as  I  have 
indicated,  it  should  be  applied  very  sparingly.  When 
the  heels  are  rough  and  more  chapped  than  cracked, 
glycerine  is  a  good  remedy.  To  properly  apply  this  : 
wash  the  af^icted  part  with  castile  soap  and  warm 
water ;  dry  thoroughly,  and  apply  a  small  amount  of 
glycerine,  and  this  will  often  be  all  the  treatment  the 
horse  will  need ;  for  thrush  keep  the  foot  dry  and 
clean,  and  use  creoline  or  calomel. 

It  frequently  happens  that  a  campaign  will  develop 
curbs  and  other  forms  of  weakness  in  a  horse's  legs, 
hips  and  shoulders  that  will  require  treatment.  I  have 
used  a  great  many  different  kinds  of  liniment  to  cure 
these  ailments,  but  have  had  the  best  success  with 
iodine.  To  properly  use  this  remedy  the  following 
method  should  be  observed :  Clip  the  hair  off  the 
afflicted  part ;  bathe  with  warm  water,  to  open  the 
pores;  then  dry  thoroughly  with  cloths  ;  put  on  iodine 

127 


liberally  at  the  first  application,  and  rub  with  a  stiff 
brush  four  or  five  minutes.  Every  day  for  a  week, 
after  the  first  application,  apply  a  small  quantity  of 
iodine  with  a  soft  brush.  In  six  or  seven  days,  after 
you  are  through  with  the  iodine,  rub  on  lard  a  few 
times.  In  two  or  days  after  this,  wash  with  castile 
soap  and  warm  water.  In  very  bad  cases  a  second 
treatment  may  be  necessary ;  but  in  ordinary  cases  I 
have  found  one  treatment  sufficient.  After  this  treat- 
ment, if  the  ailment  is  in  the  legs,  the  afflicted  part 
should  be  treated  with  a  preparation  composed  of  salt- 
petre, two  ounces  ;  borax,  two  ounces  ;  arnica  flowers, 
two  ounces.  This  should  all  be  put  into  a  pan  with 
enough  water  to  keep  from  burning  and  boiled  half  an 
hour.  When  boiled,  put  it  in  a  gallon  jug,  add  two 
ounces  of  spirits  of  camphor,  and  fill  the  jug  with  soft 
water.  It  is  then  ready  for  use  as  soon  as  cool.  This 
wash  should  also  be  used  after  using  "  Great  Dis- 
covery," and  is  the  most  cooling  and  satisfactory 
remedy  for  inflammation  of  any  kind,  and  will  harden 
the  part  to  which  it  is  applied  better  than  anything  I 
have  ever  used.  If  it  is  desired  to  work  the  horse 
after  he  has  been  treated  with  iodine,  he  may  be 
jogged  in  a  week  or  ten  days  after  the  first  treatment. 


128 


CHAPTER     XIV. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  KEEPING  HORSES'  FEET  IN  GOOD  CON- 
DITION—PROPER WAY  TO  SHOE  HORSES  TO  COR- 
RECT CERTAIN  DEFECTS— WHEN  PADS  SHOULD 
BE  USED  AND  THE  PROPER  KINDS  FOR  DIFFERENT 
HORSES. 

GENTLEMEN  of  experience  do  not  need  to  be 
told  that  the  foot  is  about  the  most  important 
part  of  the  anatomy  that  a  horse  carries  to 
the  race  track  ;  hence,  what  I  am  about  to  say  is  not 
intended  for  their  enlightenment ;  but,  as  this  book  will 
probably  be  read  by  some  who  are  just  commencing  to 
learn  the  art  of  properly  caring  for  horses,  I  deem  it 
proper  to  say  that  the  old  adage  of  **  no  foot  no 
horse  "  is  as  true  to-day  as  when  it  was  first  promul- 
gated generations  ago  ;  and  that,  as  effect  follows  cause 
in  any  case,  poor  shoeing  and  want  of  proper  atten- 
tion to  the  feet  will  produce  a  worthless  race  horse 
more  effectually  than  the  want  of  sufficient  feed  and 
grooming.  The  suggestions  contained  in  this  chapter 
are  based  upon  my  personal  experience,  and,  if  followed, 
will,  I  think,  produce  satisfactory  results. 

A  great  many  trotters,  both  colts  and  old  horses, 
will  forge  and  scalp  when  jogging.  When  they  do  this, 
I  always  use  a  square-toed  shoe  in  front,  also  bevel  the 
shoe  on  the  outer  edge  near  the  toe  from  the  hoof  to 
the  ground  surface.  Do  not  file  off  the  hoof  at  the  toe 
when  it  projects  over  the  square  of  the  shoe,  only  re- 
move the  edge  of  the  hoof  with  the  rasp.     You  will 

129 


find  this  will  be  a  great  advantage  to  a  great  many  old 
horses  as  well  as  colts.  I  have  been  using  this  kind  of 
a  shoe  about  twenty  years  and  have  had  great  success 
with  it  on  some  horses.  The  first  horse  I  ever  used 
them  on  was  McCurdy's  Hambletonian.  When  I  took 
him  he  was  very  rough  gaited,  and  would  not  trot  any 
distance  square  and  true,  and  would  cut  a  new  pair 
of  leather  scalpers  all  to  pieces  in  one  work-out.  I 
knew  that  was  the  cause  of  his  going  rough  gaited,  and 
thought  if  I  could  stop  it  he  would  go  much  better. 
So  I  shod  him  several  times  in  a  short  period,  experi- 
menting. I  finally  filed  the  shoe  square  at  the  toe, 
like  an  old  worn-out  shoe,  and  he  went  much  better 
for  me.  Then  I  began  to  square  the  shoe,  and  let  the 
hoof  project  over.  He  went  square  and  true,  shod 
this  way,  and  was  a  good  horse  and  won  many  races. 
I  find  this  a  good  way  to  shoe  most  trotters  during  the 
winter  and  spring  while  jogging,  as  they  do  not  forge 
and  scalp  with  the  square-toed  shoes ;  and  a  great 
many  horses  do  better  with  them  taking  their  first 
work,  as  they  quicken  the  action,  especially  long  strid- 
ing horses ;  and  a  great  many  horses  that  need  scalp- 
ers with  the  ordinary  shoe  can  go  without  them  by 
using  the  square-toed  shoe,  which  is  quite  an  advan- 
tage, as  the  scalpers  are  a  great  impediment  to  a  horse's 
speed,  often  causing  him  to  carry  more  weight  in  front 
to  balance  the  weight  of  the  scalpers.  Another  advan- 
tage this  shoe  has,  is  this  :  Some  horses  are  inclined  to 
go  a  little  sideways,  that  is,  carrying  one  hind  foot  in 
between  the  front  feet,  and  carrying  the  other  hind 
foot  out.  When  a  horse  does  this,  he  will  trot  faster 
around  a  turn  than  he  will  through  the  stretch  going 
straight.  If  he  carries  his  right  hind  foot  in,  he  will 
trot    the   wrong    way    of    the    track  around    the  turn 

130 


faster  than  straight  away.  This  shows  that  his  stride 
is  shorter  with  the  foot  he  carries  in.  If  it  is  the  left 
hind  foot  he  carries  in,  put  a  square-toed  shoe  on 
the  left  front  foot,  bevel  the  shoe  from  the 
foot  to  the  ground  surface  on  the  outer  edge  near 
the  toe ;  put  an  ordinary-shaped  shoe  full  at  the 
toe  on  the  right  front  foot ;  on  the  right  hind  foot 
square  the  tcye  the  same  as  on  the  left  front  foot ;  on 
the  left  hind  foot  shoe  full  at  the  toe,  the  same  as  on 
the  right  front  foot;  have  this  shoe  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
longer  or  more  at  the  heel  than  the  right  hind  foot, 
and  throw  the  outside  calk  or  heel  out  just  a  little 
more  than  the  right  foot,  also  put  a  piece  of  leather  all 
around  under  the  shoe  to  make  this  foot  longer.  I 
have  been  benefited  by  shoeing  some  horses  this  way 
when  they  were  inclined  to  hitch  and  go  sideways.  I 
prefer  a  convex  creased  shoe  beveled  from  the  foot  to 
the  ground  surface  on  most  horses.  A  shoe  made  this 
way  is  stiffer,  stronger,  and  protects  the  foot  better, 
and  breaks  the  concussion  more,  and  the  horse  will 
have  a  better  hold  when  his  foot  leaves  the  ground,  as 
it  is  the  natural  shape  of  the  horse's  foot  when  bare- 
footed. It  is  very  seldom  that  a  pacer  needs  a  square- 
toed  shoe,  unless  he  is  a  horse  that  is  big  gaited  and 
needs  his  action  quickened.  Pacers  do  not  forge  and 
scalp  with  the  toe  of  their  front  feet  as  trotters  do. 
They  very  often  clip  the  inner  edge  of  the  left  front 
foot  with  the  inner  edge  of  the  right  hind  foot  and, 
vice  versa,  with  right  front  foot  and  left  hind  foot. 
The  way  I  have  had  best  success  in  shoeing  them  is 
to  use  a  shoe  weighing  six  or  seven  ounces  on  the 
hind  feet,  a  shade  heavier  on  the  outside  and  the 
shoe  straightened  on  the  inside  from  the  point  of  the 
toe  to  the  middle  of  the  quarter,  that  is,  about  half  way 

131 


from  the  toe  to  the  heel.  Let  the  hoof  project  over 
and  round  the  edge  with  a  rasp,  also  bevel  the  shoe 
well  on  the  inside  with  a  rasp  from  the  foot  to  the 
ground  surface.  Have  these  shoes  made  with  calks 
and  run  back  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  longer 
than  the  foot  ;  on  the  front  feet  put  ordinary  shoes, 
weighing  about  the  same  as  the  hind  shoes,  and  bevel 
well  on  the  inside  from  the  foot  to  the  ground  sur- 
face. Any  pacer  that  crossfires  will  be  very  much  im- 
proved this  way.  Hal  Pointer  had  to  be  shod  like  this. 
Some  pacers  will  need  a  little  more  weight  in  front  and 
less  behind,  and  some  go  best  with  light  toe  weights. 

A  great  many  horses  that  wear  light  shoes  have  to 
be  padded.  To  pad  a  horse  right  it  is  necessary  for  him 
to  wear  bar  shoes.  For  pads  I  prefer  to  use  firm  pli- 
able leather,  such  material  as  is  used  in  making  horse 
collars ;  and  I  prefer  to  use  sponges  instead  of  oakum. 
Take  a  fine  quality  of  sponge  just  a  little  smaller  than 
the  foot,  cut  the  sponge  from  the  point  of  the  frog  to 
the  heel  of  the  foot  so  that  the  sponge  will  come  down 
on  either  side  of  the  frog,  in  order  not  to  get  too  much 
frog  pressure.  Also  lay  a  small  piece  of  sponge  in  the 
center  of  the  frog  under  the  bar  of  the  shoe.  It  is  very 
important  not  to  have  too  much  sponge,  as  it  will  very 
often  force  the  leather  below  the  level  of  the  shoe, 
particularly  so  on  light  shoes,  which  will  make  a  horse 
very  sore  in  its  feet.  Before  putting  on  the  sponge 
and  pad  apply  Moore's  hoof  ointment  liberally  to  the 
sole  of  the  feet. 

There  are  a  great  many  kinds  and  varieties  of  rubber 
pads  now  in  use.  I  have  found  the  most  satisfactory 
pads  for  winter,  while  driving  on  the  snow,  to  be  the 
Mooney  racing  pads.  These  pads  give  plenty  of 
frog  pressure  and  cause  the  foot  to  spread.     For  some 

132 


horses  they  are  the  best  for  summer ;  but,  as  a  general 
thing,  I  prefer  the  leather  pads  I  have  spoken  of  for 
most  horses  for  summer  use.  The  Mooney  racing 
pads  are  used  without  bar  shoes. 

Some  horses,  that  have  excessive  knee  action  and 
pound  the  ground  hard,  need  a  shoe  with  fine,  sharp 
toe  and  heel  calks,  to  break  the  concussion.  To 
properly  shoe  a  horse  with  these  calks,  a  flat  shoe 
should  be  used,  with  very  light,  sharp  calks ;  the 
calk  should  be  about  two  inches  long  at  the  toe,  set 
well  back  on  the  shoe  from  the  toe  and  perfectly 
straight  across,  thereby  allowing  the  horse  to  break 
over  easy  and  causing  no  strain  on  the  tendons;  the 
calks  on  the  heel  should  be  about  one  inch  long,  set 
lengthwise  of  the  shoe.  If  the  horse  has  to  be  shod 
with  light  shoes  or  pads,  it  is  necessary  to  shoe  him 
with  bar  shoes.  Some  horses,  that  have  low  hock 
action  and  are  close  gaited  behind,  will  slide  an  inch 
or  two  on  their  hind  feet  when  striking  the  ground 
going  fast.  In  such  cases  I  have  had  the  best  results 
by  shoeing  them  behind  without  calks ;  if  calks 
are  used,  they  will  prevent  the  sliding  and  shorten 
the  stride  too  much  ;  but  for  horses  that  do  not  thus 
slide  I  prefer  to  use  calks  on  the  hind  shoe. 

Nature  is  more  generous  with  some  horses  than 
with  others  respecting  the  bestowal  of  good  feet. 
The  perfect  forefoot  of  a  horse  15^  hands  high 
should  measure  about  3^  inches  from  the  coronet 
to  the  point  of  the  toe,  and  stand  at  an  angle  of 
about  forty-seven  degrees.  The  heel  of  the  front 
foot  should  be  about  i^  inches  long  from  the  coronet 
to  the  bottom  of  the  foot.  Both  the  toe  and  heel  of 
the  hind  foot  should  be  a  shade  shorter  than  the  front 
foot,  and  the  foot  should  stand  at  an  angle  of  about 

133 


fifty-two  degrees.  I  do  not  believe  in  too  long  toes,  as 
it  brings  too  much  strain  on  the  tendons,  and  will  soon 
cause  lameness.  Neither  must  the  toe  be  too  short, 
as  that  will  cause  tenderness,  which  is  equally  as  detri- 
mental. The  trainer  is  frequently  admonished  of  the 
fact  that  vigilance  is  the  price  of  keeping  a  horse's 
feet  in  proper  condition,  and  if  they  are  neglected  he 
will  soon  learn,  to  his  sorrow,  that  he  has  a  race  horse 
only  in  name. 

There  are  a  great  many  good  horseshoers  all  over 
the  country.  Mr.  William  Cope,  who  has  been  shoe- 
ing for  me  for  the  past  two  or  three  years,  I  consider 
as  good  a  mechanic  as  I  ever  saw.  He  has  a  quick 
eye,  handles  the  rasp  well,  can  get  the  right  angle  of 
the  foot  with  perfect  ease  and  can  make  any  kind  of  a 
shoe.  He  is  perfectly  reliable  and  willing,  and  never 
gets  out  of  patience  with  a  nervous,  uneasy  horse. 
He  has  been  an  important  help  to  me  in  the  races  I 
have  driven  since  he  has  been  shoeing  my  horses. 


134 


CHAPTER     XV. 

HORSES  I  HAVE  GIVEN   RECORDS  — CONCLUSION. 

I  DROVE  the  horses  named  below  to  the  records 
indicated,  which  were  their  best  records  at  the 
time  they  were  made,  and  I  believe  are  still  their 
records  except  in  the  cases  of  Bonesetter,  Mattie 
Hunter,  Hal  Dillard,  Star  Pointer,  and  Joe  Patchen. 
The  record  I  gave  Joe  Patchen  of  2.01  ^^  was  in  a  race, 
and  is  the  present  race  record  ;  but  I  believe  he  has 
since  acquired  a  trial  record  of  2.oi}(,  Besides  the 
horses  named,  I  have  also  driven  a  great  many  in  races 
where  I  have  been  substituted  for  other  drivers,  and 
given  them  records  better  than  2.30 ;  but  I  kept  no 
records  of  such  horses  and  do  not  remember  their 
names.     The  list  is  as  follows  : 

TROTTERS. 

AdFIELD, 2.2  2^ 

Alice  West,       2  26 

American  Belle, 2.12^ 

Annie  W.,       2.20 

Athanio, 2.10 

Barkis, 2.25^ 

Battleton, 2.09^ 

Beautiful  Chimes, 2.22)^ 

Bonesetter, .     .  2.26 

Boy  Blue, 2.25^4 

Carillon, 2.16^ 

Charming  Chimes,       2.17^ 

135 


Cora, 2.26 

Dan, 2.2414 

Dare  Devil, 2.09^ 

Dr.  Almont,        2.21% 

Dr.  Norman, 2.19% 

Electmont, 2.22^ 

Emily, 2. 11 

Equity, 2.12^ 

Excellence,       2,19^ 

Fantasy, 2.06 

FiTZ  Royal, 2.13^ 

Frank  Buford,       2.20 

Fred  S.  Wilkes, 2. 11 

Globe, 2.14^ 

Hawley, 2.23% 

Heir-at-Law, 2.12 

Henrietta, 2.17 

Honest  George, 2. 14 J/4 

J.  B.  Richardson, 2,17^ 


Jeffe  Lee, 2.22 

Joe  Rhea,       2.23 

Josie  Chimes, 2.29^ 

June  Bug, 2.29^ 

Kate  Ashley, 2.22^ 

Keokee, 2.20^ 

Lady  Geraldine, 2.11^ 

Lord  Derby, 2.07 

LucRETiA,        2.20 

McCurdy's  Hambletonian,     .     .  2.26^ 

McEwEN, 2.18% 

Merriment, 2.113^ 

Milan  Chimes, 2.13% 

Nettie  King, 2.20^ 

Nightingale, 2.08 

N.  T.  H.,        2.17X 

Onward  Silver, 2.11^ 

136 


Pansy, 2.17^ 

Play  Boy, 2.i8>^ 

Rex  Americus, 2.11^ 

RoxiE  M.,        2.28^ 

Sixty-Six, 2.15^ 

Smith  O'Brien,  .......  2.29^ 

Stevie, 2.19 

Tennessee  Wilkes, 2.27 

Texas  Bill, 2.26^ 

The  Abbott, 2.03X 

The  Earl, 2.17 

The  Monk, 2.08^ 

The  Queen, 2.10)4; 

Tocsin  Chimes, 2.24^ 

True  Chimes, 2.12% 

Tudor  Chimes, 2.13 

Valence, 2.12% 

Wade  Hampton, 2.29)^ 

Wardwell, 2.14^ 

X.  Y.  Z., 2.29>4 


DOUBLE-TEAM  RECORD. 

Belle  Hamlin  and  Honest  George,     .     .     2.12% 

TRIPLE-TEAM  RECORD. 

Belle  Hamlin,  Justina  and  Globe,     .     .     2.14 


137 


PACERS. 

Actor, 2.22% 

Bay  Tom, 2.23 

Bob  Taylor,        2.23^ 

Brandon, 2.12 

Bright  Regent, 2.06^ 

Brown  Hal, 2.123^ 

CaSSIE, 2.28>4 

Chimes  Boy, 2.1714^ 

Cuckoo, 2.16X 

Duplex, 2.17^ 

Ed.  Easton, 2.09^ 

Elsinora, 2.12)^ 

Era  Chimes, 2.18% 

Frank  Dorch, 2.15% 

George  Gordon, 2.27  J4 

Glendennis, ^-^l/i 

Hal  Braden, 2.07^ 

Hal  Dillard, 2.06 

Hal  Pointer, 2.04^ 

Head  Light, 2.24^ 

Heir-at-Law, 2.05% 

Ildrim,       2.21^ 

Intone, 2.21^ 

Intrepid, 2.26^ 

Jim  Friel,       2.20^ 

Joe  Bowers, 2.18 

Joe  Braden,        2.15^ 

Joe  Patchen, 2,01)4 

KiTTIE  B,,        2. 1  I 

Lady  of  the  Manor,       ....  2.04% 

Mandolin, 2.16 

138 


Mattie  Hunter, 2.13 

Mercury,       2.21 

Merry  Chimes, 2.08^ 

Mocking  Boy, 2.o8>4 

Monogram, 2.20^ 

Moonstone, 2.09 

MoRELiA, 2.10^ 

Nettle  Keenan, 2.26)4 

Ovid, 2.15^ 

Red  Fox, 2.10 

Red  Oak, 2.13^ 

Robert  J., 2.01^ 

Rockdale, 2.29^ 

Sailor  Boy, 2.17^ 

Stanley  P., 2.24}^ 

Star  Pointer, 2.07 

Tom  Wilkes 2. 11 


Summary  : 


Trotters, 68 

Pacers, 48 

Total, 116 


139 


WORLD'S   RECORDS. 


I 


HAVE  given  world's  records  to  the  following 
horses,  some  of  which  stand  as  world's  records 
and  some  have  since  been  lowered,  viz  : 


Brown  Hal,       .     .  pacing  stallion  record. 

Hal  Pointer,     .     .  pacing  gelding  record. 

Fantasy,    ....  three-year-old  race  record. 

Fantasy,    ....  four-year-old  mare  race  record. 

Fantasy,    ....  fastest  four-heat  race. 

Nightingale,     .     .  three-mile  record. 

Nightingale,     .     .  two-mile  race  record. 

Robert  J.,      .     .     .  fastest  gelding. 

Robert  J.,       ...  world's  harness  record. 

Robert  J.,      ...  fastest  heat  in  race  gelding. 

Robert  J.,      ...  fastest  four-heat  race. 

Joe  Patchen,     .     .  fastest  race  record. 

Lady  of  the  Manor,  fastest  pacing  mare. 
Lady  of  the  Manor,  fastest  heat  in  race  mare. 


Lord  Derby, 
The  Abbott, 
The  Abbott, 
The  Abbott, 
The  Abbott, 
The  Abbott, 
The  Abbott, 


fastest  five-year-old  trotting  gelding, 
fastest  six-year-old  gelding, 
fastest  two-heat  race, 
fastest  five-heat  race, 
fastest  race  record  to  wagon, 
fastest  trial  to  wagon, 
fastest  trotting  record. 


Belle    Hamlin     and 

Honest  George,     fastest  double-team  record. 
Belle  Hamlin,  Globe 

AND  JusTiNA,      .     fastest  triple-team  record. 
Heir-at-Law,         .     fastest  race  records,  both  trotting  and 
pacing. 
140 


That  others  will  surpass  the  record  I  have  made, 
both  as  regards  the  number  of  horses  driven  and  the 
time  recorded,  is  highly  probable,  and  yet  I  can 
frankly  say  that  my  ambition  is  measurably  gratified. 
I  have  certainly  achieved  a  far  greater  success  than  I 
had  reason  to  anticipate  at  the  dawn  of  a  career  to 
which  my  mature  years  have  been  devoted  ;  and  if,  in 
the  years  to  come,  I  shall  witness  higher  achievements 
by  others  than  I  have  been  able  to  obtain,  I  shall  ever 
be  ready  and  willing  to  extend  to  him  or  them  the 
same  cordial  greeting  with  which  I  have  always  been 
favored.  No  tinge  of  envy  or  bitterness  will  mar  the 
memories  which  cluster  around  the  past.  The  good 
will  I  bear  to  those  I  have  met  in  friendly  rivalry,  as 
well  as  to  those  who  may  in  the  future  adorn  a  profession 
of  which  I  only  claim  to  be  a  humble  member,  will  ever 
be  cherished  by  me  as  one  of  the  brightest  jewels  I 
possess. 


141 


INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Adonis, 62 

Alice  West 22,  28 

American  Belle, 95 

Assistants,  importance  of  having  good, 112 

Bar  shoes,  when  should  be  used, 133 

B.  B., 61 

Beginners,  Advice  to, 118 

Belle  Hamlin, 62,  73 

Bessie  Hal, 7 1 

Betsey  Baker,        47 

Blackwood,  Jr II 

Blind  Tom, 33»  34 

Bridle  and  Bits, I20 

Bright  Regent, 89,  90 

Bro\\Ti,  Major  Campbell, 22,  23 

Brown  Hal, 59 

California,  as  place  to  winter  horses, 113 

Calves,  breaking  and  driving, 13 

Caring  for  horses  during  preparatory  work, 113 

Chafes  and  cracked  heels,  remedy  for, 127 

Checks,  kinds  of, 121 

Chieftain, H 

Chimes 7^ 

Collision  and  unfair  decision, 26 

Colt-breaking, IO9-111 

Colt,  My  first, H 

Colt  shows, 38 

Columbia,  Tennessee,  residence  at,        23 

Conditions  in  Tennessee  not  favorable  for  trotting  races,  ....        10 

Converting  pacer  to  trot, 20,  21 

Cope,  William, 134 

County  Fairs, I4 

Curry,  Jack, 83 

Dare  Devil, loi,  102 

Date  of  career  as  trainer  and  driver, 18 

Dexter 99 

Direct, 63. 

143 


PAGE. 

Disinfectants,  Importance  of  using, 126 

Doble,  Budd, 79 

Double-Team  record, 137 

Driving,  suggestions  about, 125 

Early  Life, 13 

Easley,  John,  and  hoodoo, 83,  84 

Ella  Bro\vn,  Strange  incident  in  training, 69 

Fanning,  Rev.  Talbot, ii,  18,  19 

Fantasy, 86-88 

Feeding  horses  in  winter  and  spring, 1 16 

Feet,  best  time  to  get  in  condition, 114 

Feet,  importance  of  keeping  in  condition, 129 

First  Lesson,  My,  in  caring  for  race  horses, 22 

First  Monday 35 

First  Race,  My, 18,  19 

Foot,  Perfect,  of  horse  15^  hands  high, 133 

Forging  and  scalping,  remedy  for, 129 

Fox  hunting, 39 

Freeman,  H.  B., 109 

Fry,  O.  N., 49 

Fuller,  George, 21 

Gibson's  Tom  Hal, 47 

Globe, 73 

Glycerine,  when  should  be  used 127 

Goldston,  Wm., 37 

Grand  Circuit, 103 

"Great  Discovery,"  when  to  be  used, 124 

Greenlander, 75 

Hal  Family, 47?  70 

Hal  Pointer, 59 

Hamlin,  C.  J., 72,  77,  loi 

Hamlin,  Harry, 72 

Harness,  should  fit  well, 1 20 

Heir-at-Law, 93,  94 

Hock  action,  when  low,  how  to  shoe, 133 

Honest  George, 73>  80 

Horses,  working  and  preparing  for  races, 121,  122 

Hotspur,  race  with,        78 

Humphrey's  Homeopathic  Remedies, 126 

Iodine,  how  and  when  to  use 127,  128 

Jockey  Day, 36 

144 


PAGE. 

Joe  Braden, 29 

Joe  Patchen, 82,  83 

Jogging,  general  rules  for,        119 

John  R.  Gentry, 82 

Justina, 73 

Kittrell's  Hal, 47 

Knee  action,  when  high,  proper  way  to  shoe, 133 

Lady  of  the  Manor, 97>  98 

Little  Brown  Jug, 49 

Little  Dave, 18 

Lizzie, 49 

Locomotive, 5^ 

Lord  Derby,     ...      • 99,  1 00 

Lucy, 33»  34 

McDowell,  Andy, 83 

Mambrino  King, 78 

Marvin,  Charles, 125 

Mattie  Hunter, 31-34 

Milan  Chimes, 96 

Montgomery,  accident  at,         24 

Mooney's  Rubber  Pads,  recommended, 132 

Moore's  Hoof  Ointment,  when  to  apply, 132 

Morgan  Horses, II,  18 

Mountain  Slasher, 37 

Mud,  racing  in, 75>  83 

Nightingale, 74.  75 

Old  horses,  how  disposed  of, 66 

Old  Spot, 41 

Pacers  driven  to  records, 138,  139 

Pacers,  how  to  shoe, 131 

Pacing  gait  not  appreciated, 10 

Pads,  how  and  when  to  use, 132 

Parents  object  to  my  becoming  trainer  and  driver, 16 

Pneumatic  sulky,  first  used  in  Grand  Circuit, 79 

Preparing  horses  for  campaigning, II4 

Prince  Pulaski, 31 

Quarters,  when  defective,  how  to  remedy, 115 

Race  Track,  My  first, 16 

Raymond,  Tom, S^ 

Receipt  for  wash  in  certain  cases, 124 

Repeats,  when  to  give, 121 

145 


PAGE. 

Robert  J., 8i 

Rowdy  Boy, 33>  34 

Roy  Wilkes, 56 

Saddle  Horses  first  used  in  Tennessee, 10 

Salisbury,  Monroe, 83 

Scenery,  change  of,  advisable, 119 

Selma,  Alabama,  desirable  place  to  winter  horses, 113 

Sheep,  use  of,  to  dry  race  track, 83 

Shoeing  to  correct  certain  defects, 129,  130,  131,  133 

Sickness  in  horses,  suggestions  about, 126 

Sky  Blue, 70 

Sleepy  George, 32 

Southern  Circuit, 23 

Southern  climate,  advantages  of,  for  winter  training,     .      .     .        1 1 3,  120 

Speeding  horses  in  early  winter, 120 

Springs,  when  and  how  to  use, 114,  115 

Sulky,  only  time  ever  taken  out  of, 29 

Teeth,  importance  of  keeping  in  good  condition, 117 

Tennessee,  Leaving,  for  Village  Farm, 77 

Tennessee,  pacing-bred  pacers, 71 

Tennessee  pastimes, 35 

Tennessee,  settlement  of, 9 

The  Abbott, 103,  108 

The  Monk, 91,  92 

Thrush,  Remedy  for, 127 

Toe,  must  not  be  too  long  or  too  short, 134 

Training  stable  should  be  properly  conducted, 112,  113 

Triple  Team,  difficulty  in  driving, 73 

Triple  Team,  record, 137 

Trotter,  My  first, 15 

Trotters  driven  to  records, I35~I37 

Trouble, ii 

Troupe  and  Flounce, 40 

Vaseline,  when  should  be  used, 127 

Village  Farm, 72,  77,  78 

Wash,  proper  to  use  after  working  horse, 124 

Wash  (stringent),  to  be  used  after  treatment  for  lameness,     .     .     .      128 

White,  Ben, 112 

Woodruff,  Hiram, 99 

World's  records, 140 

Yolo  Maid, 63 

146 


_!  FamBy  Library  of  Velerinary  Mecficme 

Ouromings  Schro!  of  Veterinary  Medicine  at 

Tufts  Univaroity 

200  Westboro  Road 

North  Grafton,  MA  01636 


V 


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I 


